CHAPTER 5
The Library
The sun began to split in half on the horizon, the oranges, reds, and yellows mixing together above it that evening. Lily had gone through Potions, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Herbology, Ancient Runes, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. She yawned with exhaustion from this long first day. Not to mention the fact that her best friend hadn't made eye contact with anyone all day since her squabble with Sirius. When she was in Lily's classes, all she had done was sigh and pout, and every once in a while, whimper. Lily had never seen Ana worse. Peter had tried to cheer her up when they had Herbology together by suggesting that she could go play Quidditch with James and him if she wanted to, but to no avail. She had just shaken her head, and asked for a bathroom pass. Lily didn't know what to do, nor did Chloe, and certainly not Summer. It would be barking mad if any of the boys went to speak to her - they all were, after all, Sirius's friends.
Sirius acted quite differently. He laughed along with all of his friends, making jokes and telling stories. However, it seemed as if only James and Lily knew something was off about him. In those moments of silence in class where they were forced to pay attention, James saw his kind grey eyes grow melancholy, with his eyebrows furrowed together, thinking of what to do about Ana. It was no mystery that they had strong feelings for each other, but neither of them saw to it. Both of them dwelled on whether they liked each other, which caused Sirius to remember that he called her a foul word that he could never take back. Lily saw him grow moody whenever someone mentioned an inappropriate word that was usually used all the time between the Marauders and their pals. Sirius just snapped at the person who said it to shut up and never speak it again. By the end of the day, they were all tired of their most ecstatic best friend feeling down in the dumps, and they wanted to do something about it, but nothing came to mind.
The group of friends ended up scattered about the castle in different places at different times. Lily, James, and Chloe were in the Head Common Room studying for the upcoming Transfiguration examination. They all huddled together at the coffee table by the crackling fire on that brisk autumn night. At most times, all that could be heard was the sizzling of the fire and the scratching of their quills flying across the page.
"How in the hell does a bell turn into a watch, Chloe? It doesn't make any sense!" Lily said with exasperation, throwing her Transfiguration textbook to the floor.
"Calm down! It's quite simple, if you think about it. All the conjurer has to do is say the following incantation: campana exubitora. The witch has to do an extra flick of her wand to transform it properly, but all in all, that's how it goes," Chloe explained, as if it were common knowledge. James looked at her for a moment, and crumpled his parchment up into a ball.
"I am such a barmy! Now I need to write it all over again!" James said with annoyance, whipping out a new piece of parchment.
Lily perused her lengthy essay. She had worked so hard on explaining how to do it, but it didn't add up, and now she had to write it once more. She, too, scrunched her piece of parchment up and tossed it in the trash bin.
"This is such rubbish!" Lily complained, pouting a little bit as she grabbed some of Chloe's ink.
"How do you guys not get this? I knew it years ago," Chloe gloated. "But for god's sake, it was in the text the whole time! Look." She flipped to a page with a picture of a frail wizard with a bell in one hand and a watch in the other. He speedily transfigured it with one swift stroke of his wand. She pointed at the diagram, with the heading, Campana Exubitora. "It's so simple!"
Lily slapped her foreheadg, and James shouted, "Honestly, it was in there the whole time? We are officially plonkers, Evans."
Chloe laughed and shook her head. "No, you aren't. Next time, you should just ask for help!"
