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CHAPTER FORTY TWO - 🍂 ୧ internships. . .
& mischief ও🦌

THE FIRST HALF OF SEPTEMBER HAD PASSED, and the students had spent the time getting used to their classes and settling in for the school year. Despite the slow and quiet pace of the month, the students were still finding their footing and getting a feel for the new courses and routines they would be attending, and overall, it was beginning to feel like it was shaping up to be a productive and successful school year.

Autumn and James were going into their final year together and the class schedule remained the same as it was in their sixth year, except for one class—which they were both taking separate classes, his being muggle studies and her own being arithmancy.

While the rest of the classes were going smoothly and without worries, this final year brought on a new element of concern, the pressure of studying for NEWTS and the stress that came along with it.

As the head girl/boy, they were given a bit of leeway with their start to the term, allowing them the time to get settled into their roles, and although their duties required a lot from them, they were given the support of their friends, as well as their intelligence to help them catch up with everyone else.

They had a lot to catch up on during that time, but they were able to manage it all, and they managed to get on track with the rest of the students, allowing them to approach the term with some measure of comfort and confidence.

Many of the teens at Hogwarts were already looking towards their futures and the careers they hoped to have, and this school year offered the opportunity to begin training in those fields while still students.

The ongoing war didn't seem to have an impact or deter their plans, as the teens eagerly took on apprenticeship positions for various careers they planned for their futures, which provided them with valuable experience and preparation.

The system which had been put into place for this school year saw students who had chosen their careers and found internships to be able to alternate between Hogwarts and their internships over the weekends, allowing them to keep up with their school studies and also gain valuable experience in their chosen profession. It was a way for the students to have their foot in both doors and gain the experience that would lead them directly to professional positions once they had graduated.

Autumn had her career path planned out as a Magizoologist, visiting sanctuaries of magical creatures and studying them firsthand. However, she also had a backup plan of excelling in charms, which had her Head of House overjoyed with her forward-thinking mindset.

This gave her plenty of flexibility when she graduated and was looking for her first professional position, as it meant that she could easily branch out or shift her focus if she found that her chosen profession wasn't what she was looking for.

James had initially set his goal as going pro for Quidditch, but he was heavily influenced by Autumn's forward-thinking and open-minded mindset and decided to enhance his abilities in duelling as his backup plan. This was to ensure that, in the event of further conflict and the war continued, he would be able to protect his family and friends with his duelling abilities.

Raven was all for her career path of becoming a curse breaker, not wanting to leave any room for doubts and being confident in her choice. She had decided that there was no need for any other options or backup plans, as she was certain of her path and knew what she wanted to achieve.

Sirius knew that his dream of travelling the world was not a possibility, at least not at the moment, and so he followed in James's footsteps and enhanced his duelling abilities as best he could, knowing that it was a better option than having no options.

Lily and Peter both went into training at St. Mungo, with Lily aiming for a higher position while Peter was content with taking it one step at a time and seeing what he could achieve.

Remus was faced with a difficult choice in finding his career, as his affliction as a werewolf brought certain obstacles and difficulties that others did not have to take into consideration.

However, he had the support of his friends who gave him confidence, allowing him to branch out and broaden his options, and as a result, he had it different from the rest of his peers by taking on several internships as he figured out which one was a good fit for him. This allowed him to keep his options open and expand his career pathways.

The teens, despite the ongoing war and the challenges they faced, still had options over their choices, but they had all set their goals and were dedicated to reaching them. The choices they made for their career paths were a reflection of their personalities and interests, and the various backup plans they had in place were a testament to their intelligence and forward-thinking mindset when it came to their future.

Eventually, early October brought a weekend where the teens had finally found themselves without any commitments, and so, they gathered together in the Great Hall for breakfast as they decided on their plans for the day ahead of them.

It was a rare moment of leisure and relaxation for the group of students, and it filled each of them with a sense of comfort and joy as they sat together and enjoyed each other's company, feeling at ease and relaxed.

Sirius, always up for fun and adventure, grew restless as he looked over at the rest of the group, who were happily eating their breakfast and enjoying a peaceful morning together.

"We need to do something, something big and exciting," he whined as he stabbed his fork into his breakfast, hoping that his friends would agree with him and join in his quest for excitement and adventure.

Lily, being the more cautious member of the group, raised her eyebrow at Sirius's sudden outburst, sensing that he had something particular on his mind and wondering if it was something that could cause trouble.

"Why am I sensing something troubling in our mist," She voiced, her tone curious but slightly wary.

Sirius rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively at Lily's inquiry, feeling insulted that she would even ask such a question of him," Evans, my dear friend, who do you think you are talking to?"

Remus lightly scoffed at with a cautious approach, "Silly to think otherwise," as he backed up Sirius's response.

Lily was disappointed that the others didn't seem motivated to do something but didn't push the issue, as she knew that her pleading with them wouldn't influence them at all. Instead, she simply looked at them and sighed, resigning herself to the morning's slow and quiet pace.

Without so much as a moment's warning, James and Autumn were suddenly left behind as their friend group had jumped up and run off, or rather, Peter, Sirius and Remus dragged Lily and Raven along with them as they concocted a plan and set off to figure out what to do for the afternoon.

James and Autumn took a while to notice, wondering where the other five had gone and what they were planning to do to keep them from being bored anymore.

Autumn looked at James and snorted, "Should we follow after them?" she asked, her tone slightly sarcastic with a hint of curiosity, as she was curious about what her friends had planned for the afternoon.

James laughed through his throat and shook his head in response, saying, "Nah, first we'll eat, then find them," suggesting that they take things slow and enjoy a peaceful moment to themselves before joining their friends in their afternoon of spontaneous adventure.

Autumn nodded as she sat down to eat, taking a slow and peaceful bite of her breakfast, enjoying the freedom and quiet of their first day without classes or any other commitments to take up their time.

James, sitting next to her, had decided to join her in that peaceful moment as well, enjoying the slow and easy pace of their morning, enjoying the company and the calm surroundings.

...

For some inexplicable reason, as they stepped out of the Great Hall to search for their friends, they were met with a sight of pure chaos and mayhem and what seemed to be many students running around screaming.

James and Autumn both stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing the scene in front of them, both of them wondering what could have happened and a sense of worry rising within them as they struggled to make sense of the chaos and screaming students.

Seeing the students covered in a burst of colours, confetti and the air covered with fireworks, James and Autumn both breathed a gentle sigh of relief, realizing that the chaos they had initially thought to have been caused by something terrible was simply their friends letting off some steam and having some fun with a bit of harmless mischief.

James held his stomach and laughed as he saw the scene before them, seeing his friends causing havoc and finding it highly amusing. Autumn playfully rolled her eyes, also seeing their friends at the centre of it all, and just laughing at their antics.

"You've got to be kidding me," James said jokingly as he got soaked in the explosion of colours, confetti covering him and feeling laughter in his throat at the sight, "This is why I can't leave you guys alone for five minutes..."

"Oh, come on, where's your sense of adventure, did you lose it in your duties as Head boy?" Sirius replied jokingly with a laugh, tossing more confetti at James, who was trying to keep his laughter contained to avoid spraying colour all over himself than he already was

"Oh please, not a chance, stop being so serious."

Sirius, grinning widely from his success of evading the colour-cover spell that James had tried to lay on him, laughed as he quipped, "What ever do you mean, I am Sirius, did you forget, mate?."

Autumn was a little slower to react to the same spell and ended up getting covered in different shades of green as James's spell took effect. With a little roll of her eyes and a quiet groan, she replied, "Oh for the love of—"

Raven—hiding behind the column and enjoying the fun of the moment, smirked as she glanced at Autumn, who was covered in her now dark green colour, commenting, "Oh, green is not your colour."

Autumn quickly readied her spell and sent it careening towards her friend, successfully catching the latter in her spell and covering her in vibrant yellow. As Raven was bathed in the colorful hue, the friend's expression suddenly shifted from surprise to mild annoyance.

Sirius, pretending to be all outraged and feeling playfully betrayed by James's spell, feigned outrage as he replied, "Were you trying to see how I would look in green??!! The betrayal, mate, the betrayal."

James laughed off Sirius's comment and snickered, saying casually, "Just thought you'd want to see yourself in green."

Sirius rolled his eyes and flicked his hair, and with a playful tone sarcastically replied, "I no longer appreciate you, mate, we are done!"

James feigned hurt and heartbreak as he placed his hand to his chest, and even went so far as to dramatically gasp, asking, "Oh, are you breaking up with me?"

Sirius, still pretending to be outraged and full of dramatics, huffed and claimed, "Yes, now Autumn can have you all to herself."

Autumn let out a dry laugh, replying with a witty quip in response, "Funny of you to assume you ever had him."

Sirius, leaning into the joke and playing up his theatrical flair, placed both hands on his chest and held his chest as he pretended to have been shot by an arrow for his dramatic performance.

Before Peter who was nearest him had a chance to fully catch him, Sirius suddenly found himself falling onto another pair of student who happened to be Marlene and Drocas. Immediately, both Marlene and Drocas were caught off-guard by the unexpected collision and Sirius's antics.

Marlene rolled her eyes, saying dismissively, "Oh great, we somehow caught a stray," while Drocas made a face

"What do we do with it? Do we find it a home?"

Sirius was all too eager to play up the moment, loudly wailing, "Did you hear that??! They called me an it!!"

"Let's find someone to adopt him," Marlene grinned evilly,

Dorcas nodded her agreement, saying, "Yes, maybe a Slytherin would be happy to adopt him."

With that, the pair quickly grabbed onto Sirius and began dragging him away as he tried to resist and escape their clutches

"Help me!!!" his desperate voice was overpowered by the noise of the party going on around them as he was dragged away, his pleas drowned out by the laughter and screams of the other students.

Mary leaned in close to Peter and whispered, "So, we'll both say we didn't see a thing," to which Peter nodded his agreement before placing a hand on her shoulder and turning away from their friends.

Not wanting to get involved in their friends' antics any further, the two continued to keep their eyes forward and stay out of the ruckus currently unfolding, content with maintaining their distance from the ensuing madness and enjoying a slightly quieter environment.

Mary saw the opportunity of having some peaceful time with Peter and took it. She had become quite close with him over the past few weeks, ever since they had been paired together for their internship at St. Mungo's.

She decided to use this time to chat with him, "So, have you been studying the new material we have been given?"

Peter scrunched his nose in thought and admitted, "Nope, it's been hard to understand."

Mary's laugh was gentle and warm as she saw Peter's expression, and she offered him a smile, saying, "If you're okay with it, do you want to study together? I think two minds are better than one."

Peter looked at her, a hint of surprise flickering across his face for a moment, but instead of questioning her, he quickly nodded his head and replied, just as innocently, "I'd like that."