Astrophile [J.P]

Chapter 16

~ Born free, and life is worth living

But only worth living 'cause you're born free. ~

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A cluster of students rushed out of the examination hall soon after the bell rang. Among the hoards of students, were four boys laughing their heads off at some stupid joke. James was reminiscing about how easy the Transfiguration exam had been while Sirius was wondering whether or not he should have given the correct method of turning into an Animagus to the examiner just for making an even greater impression.

"What did you think of question 15, Moony?" James asked playfully nudging him in the ribs, "fantastic, wasn't it?"

"Way too easy," he smiled, "give five signs of a werewolf. One; he's sitting in my chair. Two; he's wearing my clothes. Three; his name is Remus Lupin."

"And what about four and five?" Peter spoke up shoving the frightening thoughts of failing in the back of his head.

"Four; he folds his socks," Sirius added, "and five; he walks around with a bag full of chocolate."

"I don't keep a bag full of chocolate," Remus replied.

James nodded, "yeah right, mate, that needs correction. You don't keep just one bag full of chocolate. You keep chocolate in everything, everywhere."

"Hear, hear," Sirius and Peter lifted their wands in the air as if giving a toast to the statement.

They made their way to the school grounds and finding a comfortable spot, they placed their stuff down sitting in a circle as if having a picnic.

"Finally, the worst of our worries are now over," Sirius exclaimed as he spread his legs comfortably half lying down on the ground, "so good to be free at last."

"And you're free from all the tutoring too," Peter remarked, "guess you should be the happiest out of us four."

James nodded looking ahead at the Giant Lake, wondering whether Felicity was thinking the exact same thing, "Latvia will be celebrating by now. And also praying that no other teacher assigns her as a tutor to me in the upcoming years."

"Well that reminds me," Remus rummaged in his bag and pulled out a scroll of parchment, "she asked me to give this to you."

"What's that?" he was quite surprised as he took the parchment, wondering what on earth was written on it.

"A love letter?" Sirius piped up.

"Or a cheat sheet?" Peter added.

He was simply shaking his head at them both, "it's neither. Why would she of all people write a love letter to him? And even if it were a cheat sheet, Wormy, then what use would it be to James as I am giving it now after the Astronomy exam had commenced."

"Fair enough," they nodded in approval.

"She would write a love letter to you not James, that's what you meant to say, right?" Sirius added with a smirk that earned him a not so gentle shove from Rem.

James turned the parchment over skimming through the neatly written words, "it does look like a cheat sheet though."

"That's because it is an answer key to the Astronomy theory exam," he elaborated, "Felicity wrote down all the correct answers to the paper so you could tally it and see whether you gave the right answers in the exam or not."

He looked at Remus as if thoroughly surprised, "un-bloody-believable. So you mean to say that after she gave her exam, she specially wrote down all the correct answers for me and asked you to deliver it afterwards so I can tally... That's a whole new level of generous."

"Better than a love letter then?" Sirius remarked which set him off laughing uncontrollably.

He sat up after the laughter had dissolved, "you know what, I still can't believe it. How did she overestimate me so much?"

Remus was seemingly surprised, "what do you mean she overestimated you? Like yeah, I am a bit surprised at the level of generosity due to which she spent an entire hour re-solving the paper but how come..."

He interrupted him, "look mate, it isn't that hard to figure out. She overestimated me by thinking that I could remember what answers I had written in the exam. I bloody well can't do that. I mean it says here in the answer of question 7 that Europa is covered in ice. But I don't remember what I wrote over there. I might have written it's covered in mice. See."

He shook his head warily, "of course. How could I not see that?"

"Maybe because you are a little too stuck in logic and taking the literal meaning of everything," Peter added as he gave the parchment back to James after a brief analysis.

Sirius spoke up to ease the atmosphere, "what matters most is that the horrible banshee of examinations has been defeated by the intellectual forces of the Marauders."

"And now the world is finally a happier place to live in," James remarked.

"And I think you are still forgetting the NEWTs," Remus interjected.

Peter made a face, "aw, Rem, that was not the time to go ruin it for us."

"Touche."

And as the sun set beyond the horizon and the four of them go up to head back to their dormitory, the happy atmosphere still lingered.

Even though these were not the best of times as the wizarding world was caught up in a war of its own, still the four of them managed to live their lives to the fullest. It was a quality in them admired by many and probably the only reason they didn't get into the much deserved trouble for all the pranks they cooked up.

For now, the four troublemakers were a sort of distraction for everyone at Hogwarts. A distraction from the hideous monster of war that lurked with its jaws wide open, waiting for the right moment to strike.

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