BUT THEN, I THINK OF MY LIFE…    “Well, well, well, Evans.”     AND HOW MUCH IT SUCKS.

“34B. Not too bad, Evans.”

Unexpectedly, strong arms slide around my waist and lift me up so my heels are just above the ground.

I stop and look at him quizzically. “Peter Pan?”   “Man in tights,” he laughs, giving me that marauder grin.

Why do guys go the bathroom around the same time just to pee? And they complain about girls going to the bathroom in groups…

Sirius pretends to be innocent. “I have a lamentable lack of keeping to myself.”

“Jessica came over my house for a sleepover a couple weeks ago…”      “Oh, dear,” Jessica sighs, falling back on the ground.

“Sixth Year is driving me mad.”            I grunt. “You’ve got to be kidding me right now.”

But I feel like my brain is all fluffy and float-y. Like it’s taken a swim in the ocean. So relaxing...

“It’s first period, Sirius. Please work with me here. You have no idea how bad my day is going to pan out today. I at least want to start decently so when I crash and burn, I won’t go up in flames completely.”

I look her in the eyes for the first time in a while. And for some reason, I want to get her in an abandoned classroom.

Not for that, you hormonal teenager!

“But, you’re black eye – it’s from James.”

Eyebrows together in thought and wonder, Frank responds with a long, “No…”

“No?”

“Not at all.”

“If James didn’t, who did?”

“Amos Diggory.”

“A group?” I ask off topic. “Do they have koala groups?”

“I don’t know, they seem really vicious. Maybe it’s a herd? Like a herd of sheep?”

“A herd of koalas,” I say flatly.

“Yeah, or like a social system of koalas.”

“I had hair like Edward Cullen before all this!” he whines, utterly upset.

“Are you crying?” I ask, disgusted. Or flabbergasted. I can’t decide.

“NO,” Peter screeches strongly. Dear God, his screeching is worse than when Petunia was trying to learn to play the harmonica when I was six. Merlin.

"Homeboy, how thee be?" Frank salutes, raising his hand up to me; we do our cool secret handshake which is no longer secret.

Sirius narrows his eyes in jealousy and I almost laugh.

"What are we talking about, boys? Looks like a major heart-to-heart is about to occur," Frank observes, stepping back.

Sirius and I share a look. "Women," we say in unison.

Frank's face surprisingly falls, and he sits on top of Sirius Black's four poster. "I think I need to stay for this."

Leslie doesn’t blink or speak - her angry glare is unfaltering. That is, until she whips her head around and looks up at James. “It’s because of her, isn’t it?” She has a calmer demeanor than before, but her voice still carries that accusatory tone.

James looks at the ground and doesn’t answer, and for the second time in my life I feel like my heart’s stopped. More and more thoughts from this term keep rushing to my brain and my head feels like it’s shaking.
 
 
 
 
 

It’s around midday when I walk back home. Grabbing the newspaper off the wet driveway, I walk up to my front door. I take off my shoes next to the coat rack when the phone rings. I answer it.

 

Frank Longbottom screams into the receiver.