the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 54: Charity Case

Oh, you're the best friend that I ever had,
I've been with you such a long time;
You're my sunshine and I want you to know,
That my feelings are true;
I really love you,
Oh, you're my best friend...

- "You're My Best Friend" Queen, 1975

Monday 4th April 1977

Calving season had come early to Hawkings. Just a few days before they were all scheduled to head home for the week-long Easter holiday, it was announced that Professor Kettleburn had invited all the twelfth year biology classes down to the Agricultural barn for the chance to witness a calf being born.

"I think Loughty just wants to push us off onto someone else for an entire afternoon," Mary commented, as she, Remus, and Marlene marched across campus to collect their packed lunches from the dining hall and then down to the school farm. As they got close the smell of manure wafted up on the spring breeze and Mary covered her nose, lining up behind a row of students while an older student wrote a number on the back of their hands in marker.

"That's your group," he explained. "You'll be going into the barn only a few at a time so the animals don't get spooked."

"Wonderful," Mary grumbled, examining the crudely drawn '4' on her hand.

They found their other friends waiting by one of the fences, all scattered around a flattened patch of grass. Lottie, Peter, and Moira were a few feet away, petting a goat through the fence, while Sirius and James sat on top of it, swinging their legs back and forth. When he spotted them, Sirius jumped down from the fence to compare group numbers, only to be soured upon finding out that his '5' did not match Remus' '2'.

"Charlie and Erik J. are taking bets on which group's gonna catch the calf being born," Sirius said. "Guess I have to change my bet to group two now."

"Bet on your own group," Remus said, stepping past him to swing himself up on the fence beside James.

Sirius leaned on the fence post next to him. "But you're our lucky charm!"

"Never been lucky a day in my life," Remus corrected, stifling a yawn. He'd slept more poorly than usual the night before and after tossing and turning for hours he'd finally slunk across the room and set a vinyl on the turntable. That was all it took to wake Sirius up these days, and as always they ended up on the floor with their backs against the hutch, sharing the headphones between them until that fateful shit-all hour of the morning became a little less shitty.

"Lily's in group two," James said, glancing at his hand, a '3' to match Marlene. Next to him, Remus put a hand over his eyes, scanning out over the rest of the kids.

"Where is she?"

"There." James pointed across the grass, to where Lily was standing next to Snape, looking rather ruffled. "She's trying to convince him to take our train home for the holiday."

"God, why can't she just give it up?" Sirius blagged. Remus smacked him lightly on the shoulder with the back of his hand.

"No friendship-shaming," he said. "Lily means well. Even if it is Snape."

Sirius gave him a hard look but then nodded reluctantly and turned around to lean against the fence. "Well, it doesn't look like she's being very convincing."

That at least, appeared to be true. Snape had his arms crossed haughtily while Lily stared up at him, using her hands to illustrate whatever point she was making. As they watched, another agricultural student shouted across the small field that group two was on deck and would be heading into the barn in a few minutes.