STRIKHEDONIA | MARAUDERS

THREE;

1977, HOGWARTS, THE DUNGEONS

☆ ☆ ☆

"Do you think he'll be mad?"

"Of course not, it's Slughorn! He loves us!"

"No, he loves you. I'm royally screwed."

THE TWO GIRLS BURST into the Potions classroom out of breath, interrupting the professor.

"We're so sorry!" Rowen apologised for the delay in a convincing manner, subtly nudging Thea to add on. Rowen possesses a natural charm to the teachers, also known as "sucking up" to get what she wanted.

"Yeah — uh, wardrobe malfunction," the girl tucked her messy hair behind her ears with a sheepish smile, slightly embarrassed by the stares of the Gryffindors and Slytherins alike, and the sniggers of the Marauders.

Professor Slughorn sighed but gave the two late girls a small smile, waving them in. "Don't make yourself even later by loitering at the door, come in."

They joined the small gathering around the professor as he resumed his talk.

"I will allocate you all seats and partners for this term — and this term only! Next term the seating will be different, and I would like no complaints about your partners, please. I trust that whoever you are seated with will not affect your concentration," he explained before picking up a parchment with all of the students' names. He called out pairs of names randomly and sent them off randomly to sit around the classroom.

"Miss Vestalis and... Mr Potter, at the back, if you will," he announced hesitantly, but decided to pair the two "prodigy potion-makers" together.

To everyone's amusement, the pair high fives as James sent Thea an over exaggerated wink as they made their way to their seats, throwing their bags casually on the floor. There was a moment where regret flashed across Slughorn's face, but it dissipated as quickly as it arrived.

"Am I going to regret this decision?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Thea vigorously shook her head as James observed what her spontaneous reaction would be. "Of course not, professor! We're two of your top students, and it's certainly not going to change because of a seating plan," she practically gushed, and the professor looked somewhat satisfied with her answer.

Beside her, James let out a snort. "Since when did you become such a suck up, love? That's Rowen's job."

As if the girl had a supernatural hearing ability, her head snapped towards him with a vicious glare on her face that was frankly, quite intimidating. He shrunk in his seat and his mouth snapped closed. Eventually, Remus and Peter were paired together and sat at the desks next to Thea and James, and slowly, the numbers of students left was decreasing. Rowen dreaded being partnered with Sirius, especially after the encounter with the horrendous excuse of a girlfriend the evening before. She had expected it to blow over her head after a good night's sleep, but no matter how soft her mattress was, she was still angered.

"Last but not least, Miss Lovette and Mr Black. Middle row please," Professor Slughorn gestures towards the remaining empty desks as Rowen slid into the seat with a reluctant grumble and Sirius sat beside her, perplexed. Remus shook his head as one of his best mates sat next to a furious girl in obliviousness, and Peter looked over at him nervously.