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VOTE BITCH
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JUNE 5, 1996
"You know we'd throw a party if our OWLs weren't so soon," Pansy says ruefully in her seat across from me in front of the fireplace, her Charms textbooks open with all her notes and bits of parchment spilling out of it.
"That's okay, Panz," I sigh, looking at my own Charms book—Charms is the first exam we'll be taking on Monday, first the written part and then the practical—while twirling a quill in my hand, "I'm not in the mood to celebrate anyway when I have thirteen Outstandings to get."
OWLs begin this coming Monday. The past few weeks, teachers stopped assigning homework and instead focused their lessons on reviewing materials that will show up on the exams. They even all gave us today, Friday, off to study.
"We'll celebrate after you've taken them all," Blaise says decidedly, trying to write something on a bit of parchment with a sugar quill while bringing his actual quill up to suck on, instantly recoiling and realizing his mistake. "Oh, and, uh, we'll give you the gifts later too."
I smirk slightly. "You didn't get one, did you?"
"I did!" he shouts defensively, making Theo, who is very intensely chanting incantations under his breath, shoot him a dirty look. "It just hasn't come yet."
"Don't worry about it, man," I sigh softly as someone abruptly sits down next to me on the loveseat.
I turn my head to see Celeste looking as disheveled as I feel, a scowl painted on her plump lips, her curls held up by her wand—I like it when she does that, it makes her look a little less terrifying—and she's wearing a massive green sweatshirt and little shorts that I can hardly see while opening up the Charms textbook and rifling through the pages aggressively.
"Morning," I greet with an amused smile, though it quickly fades away when I look back down to my textbook and realize I've forgotten how to turn a dinner plate into coaster.
"Yeah, morning," she sighs, digging through her bag to procure a rather massive thermos that I can only assume is filled with coffee. "Oh!" she then says suddenly, freezing. "Oh! I mean—happy fucking birthday!" she laughs slightly, lightly pushing at my shoulder to get my attention.
I laugh slightly, shoving her hand, that ruffled my hair, off my head, saying, "Thank you very much, Celeste. Hey, remind me, how do I turn a dinner plate—?"
"Shut up!" Celeste exclaims, making Blaise and Pansy across from us lift their eyebrows up in surprise while I turn to give her a confused look. "I have—oh, my goodness, tell me I haven't lost it or I swear I'll—okay, hold on," she huffs, rummaging through her bag with a slight pout while I rub my jaw, trying not to laugh at her. "Okay, wait, I think it's in my dorm, so—actually, just come with me."
