The Marauders Year Five Part 2 #Wattys2017

Five Signs That Identify a Werewolf

Five Signs That Identify a Werewolf

If Remus was really nervous about the DADA O.W.L., he certainly didn't show it. He seemed perfectly calm and collected next to James who had pools of sweat and kept lifting up his school robes to fan his armpits periodically. "Bloody hell, bloody hell," he murmured as they stood on line for the Great Hall, "If I fail this, I can't ever be an auror. And somebody said that the Prewetts only took Outstanding O.W.L. students!" He fanned himself again.

Peter waved a bit of extra parchment at James's underarm helpfully.

"Ferfuckssake Prongs, you're the most bloody well practiced at Defense in the whole school. Had your fair share of it this term, haven't you?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "None of these other fuckers can say they've faced the Dark Lord and lived to talk of it."

"Well, if they hadn't lived to talk of it they wouldn't be here," Remus pointed out.

"Unless they were ghosts!" Peter squeaked.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "My point is that you're worrying over nothing."

"I'll get a Troll, I know it," James wheezed.

Sirius shook his head.

They shuffled with the crowd through the doors into the Hall and went to their assigned seats, and James ran his hands over his knees, terrified - too terrified, even, to glare at the back of Severus Snape's head - which actually said quite a bit of how distracted he was, mentally going over every single thing he could think of that the Prewetts twins, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Ned Veigler, Chriselda Blythe or Adom Tutman had ever said.

I'm going to Troll out, I'm going to Troll out, he mentally fretted when he couldn't think of the incantation for a stunner because of how horribly he was working himself up.

And then it happened.

As he looked about the Great Hall, his eyes met the bottle-green eyes of Lily Evans and a smile crossed her face and she winked at him.

Lily. Evans. Just. Winked. At. Me.

It was as though the world had stopped.

James grinned stupidly.

Good luck, she mouthed.

And James's heart melted and he nodded eagerly and continued on grinning stupidly and mouthed back thank you, and then --

I love you, she mouthed it clearly.

James stared, stupified... WHAT? ......WHAT?!? His head spun. He was dizzy. He was going to pass out. He just knew it...

But then Jasper Odair moved in his seat, directly in front of James, and blew her a kiss.

And James Potter's face burned scarlet red.

Oh. Merlin. James thought and he panicked, looking about to see if anybody had noticed.

Sirius was laughing just four seats behind him.

James felt even his ears blush.

Sirius blew him a kiss.

James flipped him the bird.

Sirius laughed all the harder.

And then with a poof the purple books with gold lettering appeared on the desks before them and James turned about as the bloke in the desk behind him glowered at him and he grabbed his quill and his face continued to burn even as Professor Flitwick, who was overseeing the DADA exam announced, "YOU MAY BEGIN!" at the top of his little voice...