- Chapter Five -
"I'm a Keeper."

THE NEXT DAY STARTED with Sherry complaining about the cloak she was being made to wear. What with her black heels, she had to practically hold her cloak up so she didn't trip over and break her ankles. Amber had suggested not wearing heels but Sherry just looked at her like she was crazy and raised an eyebrow before continuing to fix herself up for the day.

The two girls, and Oliver, were currently on their way to their third class of the year, just after break where Sherry and Oliver were racked with giggles after seeing a third-year fall over in the hallway minutes prior. Amber just sat and shook her head at them whilst they turned red from amusement and nearly started tearing up over the simplest thing.

"Honestly, it wasn't even that funny." The girl said, but couldn't stop the small laugh leaving her mouth as she saw Sherry's lopsided smile from when she had stopped laughing.

"Ams, come on now." Oliver chuckled, hiking his bag further up his shoulder. "You have to admit that it was hilarious and so anticlimactic. I mean, she was literally ranting to her friend about being angry at someone and then she tripped like..." He then proceeded to try and do a slow-motion fall that cracked Sherry up even more.

"Oh my god." She laughed and bunched up the cloak again when she felt it wafting dangerously close to her heels. The truth was, Sherry was very small, so with the heels on she was about the same size as Oliver, without them, she was 5 inches shorter.

She knew that she wasn't as intimidating when she didn't have tall shoes on, so that's why she always wore them. If anyone pissed her off, then she had a good advantage of being the same height so she could threaten them without feeling inferior.

Back at Ilvermorny, it was easy to strut around in heels, as long as they were black. There was no long cloak increasing the risk of you breaking your neck, since the cloaks were much shorter and only reached down to their hips. It was far more convenient, plus Sherry looks good in red so the fact that she isn't allowed to wear her cranberry-coloured headband that she usually wore with her Ilvermorny uniform made her frustrated.

"D'you think there's a rule on cutting your cloak?" Sherry wondered out loud, touching the button at the top of her own cloak as they turned a corner.

"Probably." Oliver said, shrugging his shoulders. "Then again, the only uniform rule I've heard is that you have to wear it so as long as you're wearing your cloak then you're fine, I guess. Flitwick probably won't care."

"Flitwick?" She raised an eyebrow, bunching her cloak up once again as they ascended the stairs. "Who's that?"

"Our head of house." Amber answered. "He's also the Charms teacher. Really enthusiastic about when we play Quidditch, he practically crowd surfs. We haven't won the house cup in a while though." She frowned and Sherry perked up at the mention of Quidditch.

"Are you on the Quidditch team?" She asked with a smile.

Amber smiled and shook her head, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Oliver snorted at the insinuation, also shaking his head.

"Not good enough to make the team, either of us." He shrugged. "Reckon the captain was just being racist though, he left last year and we haven't had the tryouts yet. He only let Louis in because Flitwick handpicked him."

"But are you going to try out this year?" The American asked them, both siblings shrugging their shoulders.

"Might do, might not," Amber sighed. "I don't know who's the new captain but I'm worried that they've taken the other captains views into play."

"Is that Quidditch talk I hear?" A new voice joined their conversation and they all turned their heads to see Louis Simmons, the Ravenclaw Prefect, catching up to them with a grin.

"Yeah." Sherry smiled, moving on the other side of Oliver so she was walking next to the boy. "I was just asking Oliver and Amber if they were trying out for the team." She bit her lip as he looked down at her.

"They should." Louis smiled at them and Oliver nodded with thoughtfully pursed lips. "What about you, Sherry?" He looked at her again. "Do you play?"

"Oh yeah." She chuckled as they came across the Charms classroom and stood right outside the door ready to go in. "I'm a Keeper."

With a wink, she pushed the door open and strutted inside, Amber and Oliver following with wide smiles as Louis made his way in the class too. He had a large smile adorning his face as he glanced her way. Amber led Sherry to a table at the back of the classroom whilst Oliver took the one next to them, next to another boy.

On her way to the desk, she passed James Potter and Sirius Black sat next to each other on the desk in front of theirs. Sirius smirked at Sherry as she passed, his eyes following her movement to the desk behind her and she held his eye contact as she slid into her seat and smirked back at him.

"Come on, Padfoot." James grumbled, grabbing his friends shoulder and turning him around to face the front of the classroom.

"Don't get your wand in a knot, JP." Sherry laughed, glancing at Amber who was smiling at Sirius' continuous glances back at her. "It's not his fault that I've got good genes."

"Shut up." He looked back at her with a sarcastic smile and a glare. She narrowed her eyes back at him as her smile dropped and they held eye contact for a second before James turned back around to face the front, waiting for Professor Flitwick to come in.

Eventually, he did, though Sherry only saw the door open before he fully came into her view. He was a small man, who had gone behind his desk and came back out whilst pulling a big pile of books with him. He then stood on his chair, then his desk, then on the pile of books before he turned to the class with a beaming smile.

"Hello, class!" His voice was higher than Sherry would've expected but she listened nonetheless as the class said good morning back in a small mutter. "I believe that our new student is here today." He looked around the classroom.

Sherry squeezed her eyes shut in annoyance of being called out for the third time today and raised a hand sluggishly, smiling lazily at the small man, who pointed to her and grinned.

"Welcome to both Charms class and to Ravenclaw." He laughed and she forced a small chuckle before it dropped as normal.

He then proceeded to teach the class, it was nothing exciting, just him telling them about the curriculum that they would be learning this year. With it being their OWL year, he wanted to prepare them all greatly for their examinations. Amber scribbled down notes all lesson whilst Sherry sat and listened to the man, albeit bored out of her kind. Especially with the constant talking of James and Sirius in front of her.

Oliver had thrown her a note which had the start of a game of hangman written on it, which she smirked amusedly at and they engaged into a game, which Sherry won. Flitwick didn't seem to pay attention to the chatter of James and Sirius in front of her but Amber sure did, she was constantly kicking James' chair as a warning, to which the boy would blame Sherry.

"Cut it out, blondie." He turned with a glare and she raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

"I'm not doing anything." She raised her hands in surrender, pursing her lips as he opened his mouth to argue with her but Amber cut in.

"It was me. And I strongly request that you shut your mouth so I can focus on what Professor Flitwick is saying." She seethed, narrowing her eyes and James widened his before huffing and turning back around.

"Go Amber." Sherry cheered quietly with a laugh and the girl turned back to her friend with a small red tint on her cheeks and a grin on her lips.

"Now I can concentrate." She sighed and listened in to Professor Flitwick again.

James raised his hand high in the air, requesting to go to the bathroom, which Flitwick complied to and as soon as the door shut behind him, Sirius Black turned around to face the two girls on the table behind him. His long hair looked as soft as ever and his grey eyes shone in the bright light that filtered in through the windows as he blinked twice at the American. She smiled warmly at him and leaned closer so that they could whisper without disrupting Amber.

"Hey." He smirked. He sucked at whispering, but that didn't mean that his voice wasn't super attractive at the moment.

"Hey." She smirked back, leaning her chin on her hand.

"So, uh...just because you and Prongs don't like each other doesn't mean we have to be enemies right?" He asked with a small smile. He knew the answer, of course he did, that's why his smile was so teasing.

"We don't have to be if you don't want to be." She said, purposely glancing down to his lips. "JP just doesn't have any taste, I'm guessing."

"Definitely not if he doesn't like you." Sirius adjusted his position so he was now practically facing her all the way. "Been chasing after the same girl for years."

"Well, we don't have to talk about him right now." She said and could feel someone else's eyes on them. They were so close that their noses were almost brushing together, both of their eyes staring deep into one another's whilst Amber tried to ignore the heavy flirting.

"Hey, hey, hey." Someone had a hand on her shoulder and she felt it push her back away from Sirius as he was pulled forward. That someone was James Potter, who was obviously back from the toilet and staring in between the two with a hard glare. "No." He pointed at Sirius, who rolled his eyes and pouted like a child.

"Oh, come on, JP." Sherry groaned as she leaned back against her chair.

"Don't call me that." He snapped, sitting down heavily back into his chair.

"What else do you want me to call you?" She asked casually, eyes narrowing. "Bitch boy?"

"Oh, real creative." He rolled his eyes. "And you're Barbie girl?"

"Uh, that's a compliment." She smiled bitterly and he had to force back the defeated groan that was swimming up his throat. Her eyebrows raised as she put a hand to her ear and leaned forward.

But as he was about to open his mouth again, Flitwick had other plans.

"Miss Opal, Mr. Potter." He said and they both turned their heads to see that nearly everyone in the class was staring at them. "No talking in class."

"Yes, Professor Flitwick." James huffed and slumped back in his chair, picking his quill back up and twirling it around in a circle.

"Sherry?" Flitwick tried and she tore her gaze away from her nails and to her small teacher.

"Yes, Professor Flitwick." She repeated and rolled her eyes when he turned away again.

For the rest of the lesson, she sat glaring at James Potter's back whilst his fist was clenched around his quill. They didn't know why they got on each other's nerves so much, they just did. James wasn't having a good day when they ran into each other on the Hogwarts Express, she only fuelled his frustration, which fuelled hers and hence the glaring and the clenching.

The first prank of the year was going to be the best one yet and James Potter had the perfect idea of who to pull it on.

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A/N: I made an aesthetic mood board for our girl because she's hot 😩