- Chapter Thirty -
"Shut the fuck up, Snape, or I'll shove five bicorn horns up your ass."

"GUESS WHAT?" Sherry Opal bothered Amber González early on a Monday morning, the two girls already awake to start their day but Sherry slightly more awake than Amber was. She had gotten out of bed like she had never been asleep at all and Amber had sluggishly rolled over in bed to face her with a tired smile pointed to Sherry's excited one.

"What?" She whispered and her friend's grin grew more if even possible, the girl was crouched right beside Amber's bed, hands on the mattress as she rested her chin on them and Amber squinted at her through the blinding sunlight filtering in through the windows.

"My birthday is on Saturday." Sherry said, eyes glittering with happiness and Amber actually forced herself to sit up at the news and raised an eyebrow at Sherry who stayed crouched next to her bed still dressed in her pyjamas. "I'm gonna be 16 and my mom is gonna come and visit! We've had my sweet 16 planned since I was 13 and although we never planned to be in Britain, I'm sure we can make it work. My friends in America won't make it though but I have other people to make up for them."

Amber flushed at the hinting smile Sherry gave her, it meant a lot that she was even considering to have her at her sweet 16 that she was obviously very passionate about. It's not like she was shocked at the invitation, just happy that instead of being sad about her old friends, Sherry had come to be happy about her new friends and Amber was happy that she maybe had some leverage over Sherry's American friends now.

"I can't believe you're the oldest out of the four of us." Amber shook her head with a small laugh, wiping her eyes as Sherry stood out of her crouch and sat on the edge of Amber's bed instead. "You're like the least mature."

"I think that spot goes to Oliver."

"Oliver didn't have to get dragged out of Lily Evans' birthday party." Amber tilted her head at the blonde in front of her and Sherry just smirked, she still didn't remember much about what had happened that night since the last thing she remembered was being engaged in a heated kiss with Matt before she woke up in her bed.

By Amber's words, she supposed that she was the one who managed to get her safely into bed after that night. She hadn't really asked and no one had come up to her expecting a thank you all week after the party and she hadn't really been bothered to ask around, not with her suspicions of Amber being the one to take of her.

Matt hadn't said anything either and Sherry had been seeing him a lot recently, after the night of the party they had become a sort of unofficial couple. Often seen close together, flirting and maybe stealing kisses from one another but they wouldn't exactly name themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend. Not just yet, anyway. Sherry didn't want to rush him into anything so just decided on waiting for him to ask her because she definitely knew her answer.

She wouldn't see him until their break anyway, after their Potions and Defence lesson. His place as a sixth-year Gryffindor gave him free periods in which he would wait outside of her lesson for her and walk her to the next one whilst also getting to know her other friends who seemed to like him for the most part. Oliver's only flaw with him was that he thought Matt was more attractive and said he might try to 'steal the ladies' off of him.

"I've only got my eyes on one lady." Matt had retorted, giving Sherry's hand a squeeze whilst he looked down at her with a bright smile and she playfully rolled her eyes before shoving him away from her as they arrived to their Charms lesson and he had to go and get his Apparition lessons done.

Amber had given Sherry a teasing smirk as they sat down on their shared desk in Charms behind Potter and Black who ignored them mostly apart from the glances that Sirius kept sending back at them, ever the charmer. Sherry simply gave him a look that he smirked at and turned back to face the front to actually pay attention to Professor Flitwick.

The rest of the week had gone by in a blur and with her approaching birthday, Sherry had become excited for the week that lay ahead where she could milk her friends of everything they had with the reasoning being that it was nearly her birthday.

"When are your birthdays anyway?" Sherry asked, standing up off of Amber's bed and walking over to her own to bend down and take her uniform out from where she had it washed and folded under her bed.

"Louis was born on May 16th and Oliver and I were born on August 12th." She said, getting out of her own bed and looking around at the otherwise empty dorm. It wasn't much that Amber slept in but she was infamous for having to be woken up instead of waking up herself on Monday mornings.

"Aw, you're a baby." Sherry cooed teasingly, pouting as she moved over to Amber with her uniform in hand and pinched the girls cheek. Amber swatted it away with a smile and Sherry laughed as she made her way over to the bathroom.

"Just get ready for potions!"

•*•*•*•*•

Slughorn probably couldn't make Potions more boring if he tried. Despite being sat next to Marlene who always made lessons better when they were sat next to each other, Slughorn always seemed to have an eye on them and call them out when they spoke which meant points were deducted and there were many groans from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students all around the classroom and when Sherry and Marlene laughed at the noises they made, more points were deducted.

So their Professor had come up with the genius idea to move them apart, putting Marlene at the back of the classroom and leaving Sherry to stay by herself. That's what had commenced the boredom and thanks to Slughorn, she wasn't paying attention in his own class. He was going on and on and on about something called O.W.Ls that Sherry didn't care that much about and just settled on making random lines on paper with her quill.

"The score you will get on your exam determines whether or not you will be allowed to continue taking that subject in subsequent school years, and whether you might be successful in obtaining a particular job..." Slughorn was rattling on, probably losing half of the class' attention but Sherry knew that Amber was scribbling down every word he spoke. "Now obviously the majority of you, pardon me Miss Opal, will have started your O.W.L level lessons last year in preparation for this year. But due to the fact that this is a class of mixed abilities..."

He trailed off, walking past Peter Pettigrew's desk with a nervous chuckle and a awkward smile whilst the boy flushed red and hid his face from the students that turned around to face him. Remus patted his back, rubbing it soothingly as Slughorn circled other kids with encouraging smiles before continuing.

"I figured I should give you all opportunity to learn from one another," He smiled before walking back to the front of the glass and looking at them all. "A group project."

Immediately, Sherry whirled around to find Oliver across the room. They nodded at each other and then sought out Louis and Amber to communicate silently with them too. Othern students were doing the same, Peter looked helplessly at Remus who just laughed and nodded his head, Lily stared at Marlene with excitement from next to Mary MacDonald and chatter excitedly started to ripple across the classroom but all was silenced by Slughorn's laugh.

"Ah, ah, ah," He chuckled and wagged a finger at them all whilst they trailed off into silence. "Working with friends will defeat the whole purpose of the exercise, I've picked the groups myself."

The energy in the classroom plummeted and Sherry slumped her shoulders in disappointment as Slughorn smiled to himself as if he thought everyone was excited with the prospect. He then scanned the classroom with squinted eyes, examining each one of them interestedly and Sherry rolled her eyes as his face lit up with every idea he had.

"Ah, perfect." He muttered to himself. "Group 1 working at the first station I'll have Lupin, Oliver González, Woods, Diggs, Withers and Burns." Oliver got up and dragged his feet as he walked over to Sherry's desk and she got up as the rest of the group approached. She awkwardly took Oliver's old place. "Group 2 at the middle station I'll have Black, Pettigrew, Evans, Amber González, Simmons and McKinnon."

Sherry gaped in disbelief at the group as they all stood and made their way to the second station, Amber and Lily engaged in conversation immediately as did Sirius and Peter whilst Louis sent her a sympathetic look with Marlene trailing behind him. She rolled her eyes at the sight of the good group as she turned and rested her head on the table, all of her friends were in different groups.

"Group 3 I will have Upton, Parker, Lawson, Snape, Potter and...Miss Opal."

Sherry's head snapped up immediately and she gaped at her teacher as the frustrated classroom chatter travelled into silence and the slapping of a hand on the desk came from the back of the classroom and she didn't even have to look back to know it was Potter. She couldn't believe her luck, Potter and Snape. Some stools scraped and she supposed those were the others getting out of their seats so slowly, she joined them and turned to see the other four already clustered around one of the back tables.

One of them was a very pretty girl with brown ringlet curls just a couple of shades darker than her skin pulled back into a bun on the top of her head with two strands loose and framing her face, her lips were a perfect rounded shape and the general aura of innocence about her made Sherry quirk a smile.

Another one was a dark-skinned boy who she had vaguely seen around the Quidditch pitch and was sure that Matt had been talking to him at some point but she had yet to learn his name, he had a strong build and looked extremely tall next to the girl who looked anxiously up at his tall frame. He also looked down at her and gave the girl an awkward smile which she returned before the two of them awkwardly looked away from one another.

The other girl was less awkward than the two she was stood near and looked more bored, a reflection of Sherry if she was stood over there sooner. Her thick brown hair was tied back into a ponytail and her bangs were perfectly pulled back into it, if the girl was a blonde Sherry would be jealous. The resting bitch face she was sporting made Sherry feel like she'd either hate this girl or love this girl, it was kind of exciting.

The last person stood there was the greasy-haired boy known as Severus Snape who looked as disgusted as ever.

Potter was closer to the desk so got there before her but didn't take his glare off of her at any point, not even to scowl at Snape and Sherry returned his glare with a sarcastic smile of her own as she reached the desk and threw her bag down on the table; making it known she didn't want to be there. The girl with bangs smirked slightly and Sherry gave a tiny smile her way before continuing to return Potter's annoying stare.

"I'm Stephen Parker." The tall boy introduced himself, smiling slightly and waving his hand in a small wave as he looked around at the others whilst Slughorn continued putting the class in groups. "I don't know any of you except for James from Quidditch so-"

"My deepest condolences." Sherry interrupted, smiling apologetically at Stephen and he laughed nervously as he glanced in between her and Potter who smiled humourlessly at Sherry.

"I'm Flora Upton." The small curly-haired girl piped up, waving too with a smile on her face.

"Nico." The girl with the bangs nodded in a greeting, not bothering to say her last name as Sherry and Potter started arguing in the background of their conversation and everyone glanced to them as they snapped at each other and just argued like they always did. "Not gonna introduce yourself?"

Stephen and Flora both looked to Snape who Nico's question had been directed at, he simply glanced at them all, still looking disgusted as he muttered his name under his breath before rolling his eyes and turning back around to stare at nothing.

"It's really not that bad to be in a group like this, you know." Flora grinned, her teeth were as perfect as her face. She was undoubtedly stunning and her smile made her even more so as she looked around the group, Stephen looked down at her and Snape wrinkled his nose up earning a glare from Nico. "It could be a great opportunity for us all to become great friends! Wait- I know - let's go around all say a fact about ourselves and that way we can-"

"What are you, Five?" Snape seethed over Sherry and James' arguing and Nico glared at him for is attitude as Flora shrunk back into herself with a small frown.

"Shut the fuck up, Snape, or I'll shove five bicorn horns up your ass." She said and Stephen widened his eyes slightly, looking tempted to take a step back whilst Flora looked up at Nico through her eyelashes and gave a thankful nod.

Snape scoffed and glared at the arguing pair next to the group. This was going to be a long project.

•*•*•*•*•
A/N: this group has my heart (apart from snape)

Also if you need faceclaims, they are down below:
Ashley Moore as Flora Upton

Sinqua Walls as Stephen Parker

Jessica Brown Findlay as Nico Lawson (gif at the top)