The Second Moony (Sirius Black)

Ch 8

"three hours. three hours and I haven't complained. I deserve an award. Cake. I deserve cake." Marlene stated as she slammed her transfiguration textbook closed. The Gryffindor first years had been, for the past three hours, studying like they never had before. 

Lily was the leader of the group of girls. She had drawn up a schedule for them to study to and was ensuring that they got it done. Every day had their class schedule, what subject they should be studying for, and where the most effective study locations would be. She even added snack breaks for Luna and Marlene. 

"I'm proud of us. I think we've done enough"

"Lily! Do you need to go to the hospital wing? You actually think we've done enough studying?" Everyone at the table was unbelievably shocked. Never once had Lily actually agreed that they had revised enough; she always pushed for more. 

"What? Even I have my limits." Lily folded her arms. The intense stares coming from her friends were making her uncomfortable. Marlene sneakily reached behind Lily and slapped her on the head. 

"Marlene!"

"What? I needed to make sure you were real" 

"Can we go by the black lake? We haven't been there in so long and it's such a nice day outside." Alice suggested. She loved nature and found it calming. 

"Marlene and I will join you there. We need a quick snack break before that." Luna said. Studying made her hungry. So did classes. And walking. And sleeping. Basically everything made her hungry. 

"We might as well go with you. There's no way you'll be able to find your way there by yourself." Lily said. A whole year at Hogwarts, and Lily still found herself correcting Luna's sense of direction. 

"No need Lily" Luna rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a piece of parchment. "A map of Hogwarts. I just completed it this week. I finally got the charm to work where it shows exactly where I am at any time. See? I'm the little dot right there."

The first years were captivated by the advanced spell. Luna had private lessons with Flitwick, who insisted she be able to cast the spell herself. He was quite eager to help her with it if it meant she could start showing up on time. "Can it show anyone else?" Alice asked. 

"I'm not sure. But I highly doubt anyone else would need a map of Hogwarts. It took months to get this together. McGonagall suggested it during my first detention and I've been secretly tracing my steps and passages since then. It's hard work. I messed it up a lot"

"Of course you did" Lily commented as she stared in awe. It was such an advanced feat of magic. Lily almost didn't believe Luna had the ambition to get it done. She complains after studying for three minutes. 

"I'm going to need that back if Marlene and I are ever going to find our way to the Black Lake." Luna said after Lily stared at it for two minutes. 

"You know that I know how to get there, right Luna?" Marlene might not be the best at navigation, but, unlike Luna, after attending the school for a solid year she knew her way around. 

But Marlene did have a tendency to get a bit...distracted. Without Lily or Alice to get on track the combination of Marlene's utter lack of observational skills and Luna's complete incompetence can lead to disaster. "Take the map as a precaution" Alice suggested. 

"Alice! I didn't know you had it in you to brutally attack someone like that" Marlene exclaimed. "I'm so proud of you" She fake wiped a tear from her face. 

"That was not a brutal attack, Marlene" Alice said. 

"Still. I'm proud" Marlene replied. 

They finally got on their way to the Black Lake after having a magnificent snack break of apple tarts. "Luna, Marlene, Over here!" Lily shouted from beneath the protection of a large oak tree. A simple breeze was blowing across the lawn, causing the leaves and grass to bend to its will. Small ripples arose on the typically still water.