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»»————-　act one. young, wild & free
FOURTEEN━━ uncommon study buddies

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♯ ❝OI! PRONGS, MOONY! KEEP THOSE
WANDERING EYES ON YOUR OWN BOOK! ❞

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     RAVENCLAW VERSUS HUFFLEPUFF, THE MATCH WAS SET TO BE AN ENTERTAINING ONE IF ANNABELLE WAS TO BELIEVE JULIA'S RAMBLING, but then again, as long as someone got hit by a bludger, Julia would call it a day and say it was the best thing ever to grace the Wizarding World. It was far more surprising for Annabelle to be not only in the presence of Julia, Marlene and Lily, but also James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. They had actually met up in the Common Room, where James had been a jittery mess, bouncing his leg and nervously running a hand through his already messy hair.

    Apparently if Ravenclaw won, the Gryffindor team would be out of the race for the Quidditch House Cup. He had gone through a whole spiel on how the Hufflepuff team had to win with a score difference of 180 points, but why, Annabelle could not say.

    Julia had tried to explain it again, but at that point Annabelle had tuned out the crazy quidditch talk and turned to Lily for a far better conversation about the upcoming Transfiguration exam about the vanishing spell.

    While they had been introduced to the spell on the very first day of fifth year, it had only been Lily who had managed to make her snail disappear. Luckily after a couple lesson, Annabelle had gotten the hang of it, but now they were expected to make a mouse disappear, which was far harder.

    The brunette, while good at Transfiguration (--she didn't like to brag, but she is the highest scoring student on the subject since first year ) did struggle more than she normally did with this specific spell.

    "Can you two ever not talk about class." Sirius drawled out as he wedged himself between the two girls with a large grin displayed on his face.

     "Just because we actually put some effort into our studies, instead of breezing by, doesn't mean all we do is talk academics Sirius." Lily asserted briskly, nudging the boy aside to walk next to Annabelle again.

    "You insult me Evans." Sirius declared, his voice high pitched as he mockingly threw his hair over his shoulder.

    "She wasn't insulting you Sirius, she was describing you." Annabelle quipped.

     "Anna, sweet dear Anna, you break my poor heart." Sirius bellowed as the crowd grew thicker the closer they got to the Quidditch Stadium.

    "That's what I was aiming for sweetheart." She patted his shoulder sarcastically before dragging Lily and Julia ahead of her to climb the stairs leading to the top of the wooden tower, decorated in the golden and red colours of Gryffindor.

     "That is very rude!" Sirius called after her before turning to his mates, "Can you believe the nerve of some people."

    Remus just rolled his eyes, retrieving a chocolate bar from his robes pocket, breaking it in half and turning to hand the other piece to the dark haired boy.

    "What am I supposed to do with that?" He eyed the chocolate bar.

    "It contains tryptophan, which is an amino acid that helps the brain create serotine." Remus explains casually, already taking a bite of his own piece.

    "it's contains what now?" Sirius blinks, looking warily at his own piece as if it is poison.

     "Tryptophan. And serotine is a neurotransmitter that makes us feel happy. You could you some happiness to removes that stick up you arse padfoot."

    Behind the lanky teen, both James and Peter busted out in laughter while Sirius faced morphed into one of disbelief and displeasure.

    "I do not have a stick up my arse moony!"

   "Says your mopey face."

    "Take it back!"

     "In you dreams!"

    Sirius narrowed his eyes, and within seconds the two teens were running through the crowd leaving Peter and James behind.

    "I wanted a piece of chocolate." Peter murmured.

     Meanwhile, Annabelle, Lily, Julia and Marlene had almost reached the top of the stairs when suddenly the brunette stopped in her tracks. "Do you hear screaming?"

    "Screaming? No I don—"

    The quartet jumped back startled when suddenly someone crashed down in front of them.

    "Sirius?"

     " 'Ello Anna." He grinned droopingly at her from the ground. "It seems you have me falling at your feet.

    Annabelle scoffed, before reluctantly holding her hand out for the boy. He took it without a second thought, reaching up and hauling himself up.

    "Any reason you're running like dead is at your heels Black?" Julia butted in, as she popped up from behind Annabelle's shoulder.

     "Just trying to throw Remus off of the tower that's all." Sirius shrugged while the girls stared at him worriedly. "But the bugger has legs that go on for days. You wouldn't think he'd be so fast, with the way he's always sitting on his arse with a book."

    He suddenly perked as he spotted something in the distance and all the girls turned to look Remus casually leaning against the wall ahead of them, arms crossed over his chest and smugly smiling.

    "Maybe try to refrain from committing murder Sirius, I heard Azkaban is a very unpleasant place to be these days." Annabelle suggested in a jested tone quirking an eyebrow.

     "pfft—You should see my house, it's a miniature hell, I think I'll do just fine." He waved her off, already walking away to join Remus. "See you later Anna!" He called over his shoulder.

     "Erh goodbye I guess." The brunette replied unsurely, taking note that her friends just looked just as confused as she felt. "That was..."

    "Strange." Marlene mused, before gently nudging the group forward as a crowd had started to form behind them. "Let's grab some seats."

    The moment the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff team had entered the pitched on their brooms, the gathered crowd had erupted in applause, and Annabelle could even spot Professor Flitwick perched on multiple sets of cushion next to an eager looking Professor Sprout.

     A sixth year Slytherin boy by the name of Harvey Turner was seated next to Professor McGonagall, having taken over the commentary from Marley Spellman who had graduated last year.

     "This is the match you have all been waiting for!" Harvey started excitedly, "Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw, who will take home the win! I am certainly expecting a party after—and there better be some firewhis—"

    "Mr Turner!" McGonagall scowled as the Turner boy slouched in his seat before focusing back on his task.

     "Right erh, sorry Professor. Well Hufflepuff has made a big impact this year under the tutelage of their new Captain Marvin Bones. He certainly whipped them into shape, but can they defeat the reigning champion?!"

     Madam hooch was already in the air, Marvin and the Ravenclaw Captain Marianne Foster shook hands before they were instructed to mount their brooms. "On my whistle." She rose higher in the air, the snitch already released in the air. "One—two—three!"

    Like a pair of bullets, the two teams took off, and Annabelle was already fearing a head on collision when a Ravenclaw chaser took off towards one of the Hufflepuff chasers in possession of the Quaffle.

     "Hufflepuff in possession! Would you look at that! Mallory is speeding like a man on a mission! Oh—ouch that must have hurt like hell. Ravenclaw has the Quaffle, Fletcher passes it to Young ... closing in on the Hufflepuff keeper."

     Annabelle watched with bathed breath as the Ravenclaw chaser raced forward, and from the corner of her eye she could even see James almost hanging over the edge of the tower ledge.

    "Young in possession—he evades a courageous advance of Hufflepuff's newest chaser Meredith Clover, a very pretty girl—"

     "TURNER!"

     "Sorry professor. Young does a perfectly executed barrel roll, props to him! Oh no he's hit hard by a bludger, it looks like a broken arm. Yikes I would not want to be him right now—nice save from Young's teammate Fletcher. He throws the Quaffle and.. nice safe Marvin! Keeper got the Quaffle and passes it on to Meredith."

     "That looks really bad." Marlene murmurs as she spots Young's bloody arm as he speeds past them. "How can he even stay on his broom? I can't even do it with two working arms."

    "Marls you are as uncoordinated as a Hippogriff on ice." Julia jested from where she sat with her head rested on Annabelle shoulder, the two girls sharing Annabelle scarf.

     "Rude."

     "Oh look!" Lily exclaimed as suddenly the Hufflepuff seeker soared downwards, most likely spotting the Golden Snitch.

     "Already?" Julia perked up, eyes trained on the pitch as the Ravenclaw seeker started his pursuit.

    "Would you look at that! Alastair has spotted the Golden Snitch already! I think if he catches it now, he'll break the school record!" Harvey jumped up leaning forward as if to get closer to the action while McGonagall latched onto his robes to pull him back from the ledge.

    "Oh Hufflepuff scores! Twenty-zero! Nice one Meredith!"

     Annabelle winched as the two seekers suddenly had to pull up to avoid impact with the ground. They barely make it, the end of the Ravenclaw seeker's broom sweeping away a bit of dirt as it hit the ground.

     She watched anxiously as he tried to keep his balance before finally regaining it and speeding off again.

    "Clover is in possession of the Quaffle again—passes it to Mallory who brushes past a Bludger like it's just a mere fly—he gets closer and closer—he throws and. . . HE SCORES! Forty-zero. Hufflepuff is in the lead!

     "GO GET THE SNITCH ALISTAIR!" Annabelle could hear James bellow suddenly from a few seats down.

     "If he gets the Snitch now it will be one hundred-ninety to zero. It gets the Gryffindors back in the race for the cup." Julia elaborated quickly, eyes glued to the Hufflepuff seeker.

    "It looks like the Golden Snitch has made a new appearance, the seekers are going head to head, it is gonna be close— Jones catches the snitch! HUFFLEPUFF WINS WITH A SCORE OF 190!"

    The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors roared in glee. Shouting and clapping for the winning team as they made a victory lap around the stadium hollering and hooting in happiness.

    Annabelle clapped ferociously, falling in line with the other celebrating students with ease.

    "I told you Carter!" James suddenly appeared next to them with a smug smile.

    "Congratulations Potter you were right, for once." Julia shrugged already standing up to follow the other students towards the stairs.

    "What do you mean for once!" James called after her, eyes flickering towards Lily. "You know I'm always right, right Evans?"

    "Sure." She replied monotonously, rewrapping her scarf around her neck before following Julia's lead.

    Annabelle just shrugged as James turned to her for a better answer but she too, walked away with Marlene next to her.

    Luckily the descend down the tower was far quicker than it was walking towards the stands. Within minutes the group had made their way back to the Entrance Hall, loud cheers and celebrating students littering around the grounds and corridors.

    Lily could only grin as Julia and Marlene suddenly hauled the brunette up on their shoulders, the girl almost toppling over in surprise.

    "I got to say—it was actually a nice game." Annabelle admitted when the Marauders joined them again.

    "It wasn't just nice it was great." Julia correctly enthusiastically.

     "Hufflepuff dominated. It was amazing. I don't think anyone has caught the snitch as quick as Jones did." Annabelle grinned looking down at her friends.

     "To be fair the Ravenclaws put up a great fight. I think I saw James pull out some luscious wild locks from his head." Julia poked the bespectacled boy in his ribs.

    "It was pretty good, but I know if they went against Gryffindor they wouldn't stand a chance." James grinned cockily.

     Julia glanced at James. "You only say that because you think your such a great chaser."

    James puffed his chest out—like he wasn't a jittery mess about an hour ago, fearing the Gryffindors couldn't win the cup anymore. "There is no denying it Carter. We all know I am the best player on the team."

    Julia glared at him. "That is because I haven't tried out yet. And for your information I am going to next year."

     "Success with that." James mocked, patting her head.

    The dark skinned girl scowled, slapping his hand away, but in the commotion, the girl stepped a bit far to the right, and without Julia helping support Annabelle, all Marlene could do was watch as Annabelle crashed to the ground.

    Everyone flinched from the sound as Annabelle turned around to lay on her back, tilting her head upward to rub her neck.

    Marlene and Julia smiled apologetic at their friend. "Oops."

     It was silent for a moment, before Annabelle puffed out a breath of air to brush a loose piece of hair out of her face and everyone erupted in heaps of laughter.

    "How is it down there?" James asked in midst of laughter.

    Annabelle grinned up at him and swiftly pulled him down to the ground. The boy, not prepared for such action (--he should have known better really. ) lost his footing and fell to the ground next to the brunette.

    "It isn't so bad here." James noted, patting the ground beside him.

    Once more, the group erupted in laughter. As they quieted down, Annabelle pushed herself in a sitting position with her elbows before peering up at her redheaded friend who was sticking her hand out.

    The brunette latched on quickly before Lily hauled her back to her feet.

    James sweetly smiled at Lily sticking his hand and wiggling his fingers.

    Lily looked down at his hand before swatting it away. "You can stand up without my help, Potter."

    James sighed with a pout and stood up by himself.

    "So you guys ready for lunch?" Julia asked rubbing her belly.

    Annabelle shook her head amused. "Of course you would think about food."

    "You know me Rose." Julia winked.

    "Well,let's go then." Annabelle smiled linking her arms with Julia.

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    DINNER HAD BEEN OVER FOR AN HOUR, AND ANNABELLE WAS STUFFING HER SCHOOLBAG WITH NUMEROUS ASTRONOMY AND HERBOLOGY BOOKS FOR HER TUTORING SESSION WITH SIRIUS, one she was still debating on actually going to. Lately the two haven't been budding heads like they had done for years, but a small part of her still felt like she had fallen into an elaborate prank. But she did really need help! Like Astronomy may suck majorly, and stars are just stars, (--even though her mother still insisted on making a wish every time she saw a fallen one ), but sadly it is still part of her curriculum and, even more sadder, Sirius was actually pretty darn good at it.

    So at exactly seven o'clock, Annabelle had walked inside the library with a semi-hopeful outlook on the evening, especially when she found Sirius already sitting at a table in the back of library. (--she had actually expected him to ditch her to go to the Hufflepuff victory party, so yay, bonus points.)

    "So how do you want to do this?" Annabelle questioned as she dropped her bag on the table, startling the dark haired boy from whatever he was reading.

    "Erh, I don't know." The boy shrugged, "it's not like I have ever done something like this."

    "It's not like you ever needed tutoring." Annabelle muttered as she gathered her supplies and neatly placing them on the table, unlike Sirius, who had seemed to have scattered everything around.

    "True."

    Annabelle sighed, peering up at the boy who was watching her curiously from across the table. "Let's just start with Herbology..."

    And just like that, it appeared to everyone who dared enter the library that night, that Sirius Orion Black and Annabelle Rose were acting like civil people, dare they even say friends as they had slowly moved from sitting opposite of one another to next to each other.

    Shoulder against shoulder, the two had poured themselves over their notes and little suggestions or ideas. One might even say they enjoyed their time together.

    Remus Lupin, who had coincidentally (not coincidentally) taken tonight to study for the Transfiguration exam inside the library had found a nice little spot out of their sight, but not out of his. He had gone to be a peacekeeper if things turned south. (when did they ever not when it involved the two of them. ) especially because Sirius didn't really need tutoring.

    But his presence didn't seem necessary as Sirius gladly listened to Annabelle's herbology chatter as if it was gospel form Merlin himself. And he even took explaining Astronomy serious, as his in depth and careful thought out explanations seemed to register in Annabelle mind. The brunette had been eagerly taking notes and asking questions—ones Sirius eagerly gave her.

    "What in the world." Remus turned to see James standing behind him, a book tucked under his arm and his wand stuck behind his ear. "Am I dreaming? Moony am I dreaming?"

    "No, surprisingly."

    "Well cheers then. Sirius can actually have a nice conversation with the opposite gender." He mused.

    "That's more than we can say about you." Remus teased.

    "Lily is just playing hard to get. She adores me Moony."

    "Whatever you say Prongs, whatever you say."

    James just huffed before taking a seat across from Remus.

    "Weren't you going to the Hufflepuff Common Room?" Remus questioned.

     "Nah, I gotta get this spell right." He held up his Transfiguration book up, "Not all things come easily."

    "Cheers to that."

    "They do realise we can see them right?" Annabelle giggled as she hide her face behind her Astronomy book.

    "They think they're clever Anna." Sirius whispered, eying James and Remus a couple of tables away. "I think I even saw James gaping at us earlier. I don't think he would expect us to be friends before he and Lily became an item."

    "Who says we're friends Black?"

    "Aren't we?"

     "I'll take it into consideration."

     "Now, let's remind our friends—"

    "James is not my friend!"

     "Our fellow students then." He corrected himself, "That spying is very uncivilised."

     "And how do you supposed you—"

     "OI! PRONGS, MOONY! KEEP THOSE WANDERING EYES ON YOUR OWN BOOK! I KNOW I AM HANDSOME BUT THIS IS BECOMING CREEPY AND STALKERISH!"

    "Dear Merlin!" Annabelle eyes widened at Sirius sudden loud exclamation—as did everyone one else inside the library, including Madam Pinch.

     The disgruntled librarian came storming towards them with a murderous glint in her eyes.

    "We should go." Sirius muttered in fear, pushing his schoolbooks and supplies in his bags as Annabelle quickly followed his lead. She barely managed to push all her stuff inside before Sirius dragged her out of the Library.

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