- Chapter Thirty-Four -
"She hasn't opened any of her birthday gifts yet."

"SHERRY, WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Nothing!" Sherry raised her hands in surrender, widening her eyes as if insulted by the accusation that she had anything up her sleeve. Amber certainly wasn't convinced since the tiny smirk threatening to pull at Sherry's glossed lips and ruin the mask of innocence she was fronting never meant anything good.

The two of them were sat at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast, joined by Oliver and Louis like they always were. All three of them had been staring at Sherry very suspiciously since they sat down because her eyes would not stop glancing towards the doors of the Great Hall in anticipation, knee bouncing and a small smile looking permanent.

Sherry had poured herself a bowl of cereal to eat when she had realised that her friends were starting to get suspicious, taking her time with it and actually not really eating it but just waiting for the highlight of her day to come through those doors.

"You really expect us to believe that you did nothing?" Louis tilted his head at his friend, raising an eyebrow at her challengingly and she raised one back, squinting her eyes at him in an effort to hide the mischievous glint she was sure was shining in her blue irises.

"Well, I didn't do anything bad." She rephrased and Amber sighed, shaking her head as Oliver laughed quietly and continued munching on the piece of toast he held in his hand, jam spread across it.

"It better not get you in any more detentions." Louis pointed his fork at Sherry, bacon was at the end of it and she suspected he would eat it after giving the 'detention gets in the way of quidditch practice' speech. "We have a match against Hufflepuff in three weeks so extra training, if we beat them then it's us against Gryffindor in the finals."

"I'm gonna beat Potter's ass." She claimed, nodding her head and punctuating her words by stabbing her spoon into her cereal, Louis nodded in acceptance and ate the bacon off of his fork.

"If you even beat Hufflepuff." A familiar voice said from behind her and she whirled around to be faced with Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Remus all sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Potter sat backwards on the bench so he was facing her at first. "I don't think you'll even get a chance at beating me."

"Trust me," Sherry smiled at him, her eyes teasing and his just as baiting. "I'll be beating you this year, next year and the year after that."

"If you even stay at the school that long." He commented, shrugging his shoulders.

"Dumbledore won't get rid of me because he knows I want to leave." Sherry rolled her eyes, shrugging slightly as the two groups engaged in conversation. "I might as well just suck it up until the end of seventh year and then get on the first flight back to America."

"You might wanna stay by then." Amber said, sounding slightly hurt by Sherry's plans to leave as quickly as she came but the girl beside her didn't seem to pick up on her damaged tone.

"Please, the only way I'll stay in Britain after graduation is if my future partner lived here." She rolled her eyes before glancing at the doors to the hall again and looking back at Potter. "Seen Snape this morning?"

"Nope." He grinned, leaning forward slightly with a twinkle in his eyes. "Something tells me he might be having a bad hair day."

Sherry laughed, actually laughed at something Potter said and her friends all exchanged crazed glances as well as Potter's friends all looking at each other as if they'd entered some sort of alternate dimension where the two of them actually got along. He laughed too and behind him, Louis saw Sirius widening his eyes and looking around as though the real James Potter would suddenly appear.

"What's so funny?" Another voice said and both groups turned their heads to see Matt now stood there.

"We've been sucked into a wormhole mate, a world where Sherry and James actually get along." Oliver said and Sherry rolled her eyes at him, Potter doing the same as they turned back to their friends so they were no longer looking at one another. "Who would've thought?"

"It's not like we're friends." Sherry scrunched her nose up, looking repulsed by the insinuation as Matt sat himself beside her and scooted close as she finished off her cereal. "He's still as arrogant as a Gryffindor can be."

Matt scoffed jokingly, placing a hand to his heart as if offended and Sherry looked at him and then to his red tie before smirking slightly and laughing again. "Any Gryffindor apart from you, of course."

He smiled and leaned in for a kiss, Oliver gagging from opposite them whilst Amber and Louis both went to hit him. But as his lips got close, Potter had suddenly turned and pointed something out to her; Sherry's head whirled to the side to look at what he had pointed out and his lips collided with the back of her head.

Louis concealed a laugh as Matt retreated and glared at the back of Potter's head as he pointed to the entrance to the Great Hall where a group of Slytherins walked in seemingly trying to smother giggles and sniggers. Snape walked in last and some of the hall erupted into laughter at the sight of his normally down and greasy hair being stuck up and spiked high almost as if it was tearing out of his scalp to try and touch the ceiling.

Snape was furious, red in the face and nostrils flaring as he scanned the hall before his eyes landed on two particular people sat laughing together like they wouldn't do in a million years if it wasn't both of their doings. For once, they weren't on the receiving ends of each other pranks that had gone on from the beginning of the year.

A singular finger was pointed at them and Sherry laughed again, a snort escaping her as she quickly put a hand up to her nose in shock. Potter laughed harder, pointing at her and she broke down into chuckles at the sight of Snape's altered look marching towards them.

"You two!" He yelled angrily and all of the hall turned to face them as they tried to stop the laughs from escaping them as much as they were. "I know it was you two!"

"Hey mate, we were just trying to come up with a green potion for the project." Potter shrugged again, laughing slightly and Sherry nodded with small giggle slipping out of her mouth. The both of them raised their hands in surrender and Snape pulled his wand out on them.

"Mr Snape!" The Scottish accent of Professor McGonagall made him snap his head up and look behind Sherry and Potter, the girl pumped a fist in the air at the rescue from McGonagall and she and Potter exchanged a glance again where they had to look away quickly to stop themselves from laughing.

"Professor, look what they did to me." Snape angrily pointed at his hair, still red in the face.

"Honestly Snivellus, I think it suits you." Sirius said from where he was sat and Snape rounded on him as Sherry let out another small laugh before shutting up again.

"Be quiet, Mr Black." McGonagall ordered and Sirius went quiet, eating the toast on his plate whilst continuing to watch the scene in front of him. "As for you Mr Snape, I find no need to blame Miss Opal and Mr Potter for your own decisions about your appearance."

"I didn't do this!" Snape said, outraged as Sherry turned around to McGonagall with her eyes wide and innocent as she shrugged her shoulders unknowingly. Potter did the same and she glanced between the two. "They did this! I said something about Opal's hair last night and then I woke up with this! Coincidence?"

"I think so." The culprits said in unison.

"I think not!" Snape yelled and Sherry smiled again, trying hard to quell her amusement.

"Mr Snape, keep you voice down." McGonagall glared at him angrily, Sherry felt Matt scoot closer to her, his body brushing against hers but she hardly felt that this was the time to lean back into him and enjoy his touch. "Would you like to provide any evidence that Miss Opal and Mr Potter were the culprits of such a harmless prank?"

"No, but-"

"But nothing, you have no grounds to accuse them so please retreat back to your seat and stay there until your first lesson. In fact, it might be of great importance that you revise for you O.W.Ls, after all they are just around the corner." McGonagall gave him a significant look, glancing towards the Slytherin table.

"They're 4 months away." Snape argued.

"It's been three months since Christmas, time will fly Mr Snape. Off you go now." McGonagall shook her head, watching with a piercing gaze as he turned and stormed back to his house table, she then faced Sherry and Potter who turned to her with kind smiles. "As for you two...I'll see you tomorrow night for your weekly meetings."

Then she turned and left, the two of them laughed again and turned to each other with their hands held high; an invitation to a high-five but they both paused before their palms could touch. Sherry smiled awkwardly and lowered her hand, turning back around to face the table with Amber and Louis both giving her a look.

"What?" She asked innocently, beginning to fiddle with the necklace around her neck as Louis contained a smile and went back to his breakfast.

"Hey," Matt said softly and lifted his hands up to the necklace she was fiddling with, turning it in his hand and she looked down at his hand, looking up to his face to see his eyebrows furrowed. "Why aren't you wearing the one I got you?"

She didn't know he got her one; she hadn't opened her birthday gifts.

"Oh, uh..."

"She hasn't opened any of her birthday gifts yet." Oliver said and Sherry looked across the table to glare at him, he muttered an 'oops' and went back to spreading jam over his second piece of toast. It was when Oliver had been searching for something and he had looked for it under her bed and found the still wrapped gifts sat there collecting dust.

"I was wondering why I wasn't hearing that song playing out of the record player every day when you're getting ready." Amber said, nodding her head. "I just assumed you didn't like it."

"Why haven't you opened them?" Louis asked her and she smiled tightly around at them all and stared at the table when she spoke.

"Well, I was going to open them all that Saturday when my mom came but you know...she didn't show so I haven't opened them yet." She said and the group persuaded themselves into silence for a couple of seconds before Sherry spoke up again. "Then I just haven't had time to open them since."

Lie.

"Well," Louis checked his watch on his wrist and looked up at the group. "If we're all finished, we have like twenty minutes until we have to go to first period."

"Oh, actually, Flora wanted us all to meet early outside class so we can talk about the project." Sherry said.

Another lie.

"Well from the way it looks, Snape won't want to spend any time with you or Potter longer than he has to so I'm sure you'll be okay to skip." Oliver said and for once, Amber seemed to be ready to be late and it was for something Sherry didn't want to do in front of anyone because she knew that when she was left with no gift from her mother, she'd be incredibly upset.

"Let's go." Matt smiled and began to stand up, Louis, Oliver and Amber also standing; Sherry was the last one to get up, dreading what they wanted her to do, but she put a smile on her face, put her hand in Matt's and let it happen anyway.

Matt had gotten her a necklace and the charm was an outline of a silver heart made by small jewels, it sat on a dainty chain and looked lovely around her neck.

Oliver had gotten her a nice new red dress that he had admitted to having his mother's help picking out; it was a casual red day dress with a white flower print and a dipping neckline that she reckoned she would look amazing as always in.

Louis got her a set of nice hair accessories which she opened with excitement and slipped one of the pearled clips into her hair that very moment, happy she had dyed her hair on the weekend so her dark roots weren't showing.

Finally, Amber had gotten her an album from a band called The Runaways that had come out that January and she had excitedly pointed out a song called Cherry Bomb that she thought Sherry would love; she put it on immediately and found herself not being bothered by her lack of present from her mother.

It feuled her confidence and she was sure that her friends could see the way her ego inflated when she listened to the song; Amber had been right, it will be on repeat.

•*•*•*•*•

A/N: very very sorry I disappeared for a while, very heavy writers block but we've introduced cherry bomb now so that's good