Friday 9th September 1977
“Seven years. Seven years at this school. And I haven’t learnt anything .” Remus said, as he frantically looked for the right passage in his History books.
There were twelve of them open, currently, and he couldn’t remember which had the best counter argument for the 1382 Pixie Relocation Act. Seven of the books lay open on the desk in front of him, taking up almost all of the space. Five more hovered in mid air, at eye level so that he could check for references as he went.
“If you haven’t learnt anything, then what chance have the rest of us got?” Christopher smiled peacefully from his spot on the floor. He was sitting cross-legged, books on the carpet in front of him.
“I haven’t learnt anything useful.” Remus replied, impatiently, still searching.
“How are we defining useful?”
“Anything that will help me pass my NEWTs.”
“Oh, because you really buggered up your OWLs…” Christopher tutted sarcastically.
“NEWTs are completely different.” Remus countered, finally locating the passage he needed, now losing his quill. “ Nastily exhausting… ” He found his quill (behind his ear, embarrassingly enough), but now… “Shit.”
“What?” Christopher looked up.
“Lost my inkwell…”
“You ought to get one of those self-inking quills. We can look in Hogsmeade, next weekend if you fancy.”
“Yeah, why not…” Remus continued lifting books.
“Here, I’ve got a pencil if it’s just note taking…” Christopher crawled underneath the desk now to find his book bag. Remus felt a bit guilty then, for taking up all the space.
“Sorry.” He said, stepping back from the madness for a moment, “It’s fine. It’ll all be fine once we get the study group up and running again…”
“Talking to yourself, Moony?” James and Sirius appeared in quidditch robes (Sirius was still officially off the team, but nothing was stopping him from using the pitch on off days, and at least it kept him distracted.)
“Merlin’s wrinkly ballsack.” Sirius said, staring at Remus’s desk. “You can’t have this much homework after the first week?!”
“I’m reading around my subject.” Remus replied, irritable again.
“Here you are, Remus,” Christopher reappeared from under the table, brandishing a pencil.
“Cheers!” Remus took it and began to scribble away onto his parchment.
“Oh, hello Black,” Christopher nodded politely, ducking his head.
Remus glanced up, mid-scribble. Sirius was looking at Christopher with a bored kind of disdain.
“Hello.” He nodded. He looked at Remus, “Study group, is it?”
“No, just ordinary studying today,” Remus explained. “But I was just saying we ought to set up a meeting soon - if people still want to do it.”
“Of course they will!” Christopher said, eagerly, “You got half of us through our OWLs last year.”
“Yeah,” Sirius said, out of the blue. He looked thoughtful, which was dangerous. “Yeah, I might join this year. What’dyou think, Prongs?”
Jamus looked up from the sofa, where he was polishing his broom.
“Mate, I’m busy enough as it is! --Sorry, Remus.”
