- Chapter Thirty-Nine -
"You'll never be in my dreams, Potter."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOUIS!"

Louis Simmons was greeted by his friends on the morning of his birthday, all of them had been gathered down in the common room waiting from him to emerge out from the dark of the staircase with gifts and party popper in their hands, party hats on their heads and party blowers in their mouths making horn like sounds that echoed around the whole room. People on the sides cheered for their Quidditch Captain as he came downstairs with a wide grin on his face.

"You're 16!" Amber grinned delightfully, rushing forward to wrap him in a hug and he hugged her back just as tightly, both swaying and she kissed his cheek before parting from him.

"Growing up so fast." Oliver converged on him and they wrapped each other into a tight hug before splitting to do their handshake, Oliver jumping excitedly to his other side.

"I'm still the oldest." Sherry walked forward, smiling and Louis opened his arms for a hug but when he got close she simply blew the party blower and let it smack into his face with her mouth parting in a laugh before she hugged him herself. "Happy birthday, Louis."

"Thanks, Sher." He whispered and just like Amber, she kissed his cheek before parting from him and blowing the blower in his face again. His expression scrunched and he slapped the blower away, smiling at Sherry's laugh.

Louis took a moment to look around their common room, a large banner was suspended from the ceiling that read 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' and it was the one that every Ravenclaw used for ever other Ravenclaw's birthday. There was a cupboard on the second floor of the Common Room that they all called the party cupboard and inside it contained different boxes for different events.

The fifth-years had crept into the cupboard in the early hours of the morning, the twins bickering as they slid it out and were about to use their wands to put everything up before Sherry hastily came running up to them, not looking like she had rolled out of bed at all, and told them it was more fun to do it by hand and the rest could not argue after they had tried.

Even though they had a Defence Against The Dark Arts exam for their O.W.L exams later on that day, the 9 of them had fun in the early morning trying to be quiet so they didn't wake anyone else. Yet Sherry had a feeling that once they all sat in their seats to take the exam they would be quickly starting to doze off, especially when they didn't go to sleep until late either.

Amber had them revising every bit of information they had in their books from Professor Greene until midnight when she finally let them all retire, this had been going on for the two weeks in May since the exams started and Sherry spent every moment she was studying trying to sleep but it was difficult, for one she had Matt to balance with her schoolwork, it wasn't like she could just not spend any time with him.

Second, her Fridays with Potter were spent studying with tasks that Amber had told her to do and tasks that Potter had with Remus so she had to put extra effort into concentrating because he had been distracting her with his small comments on the topics. Some of which were actually funny, prompting them to start talking and making playful digs at each other back and forth.

That meant no work got done because eventually they would begin plotting against each other and to start off the month of exams, Sherry was granted the pleasure of her left hand being stuck to her fork with some sort of spell that wouldn't dissolve until two hours later. She had entered her Transfiguration writing exam with her left hand occupied by a goblet and Potter found it heavily amusing.

At least he didn't make it her right hand and ruin her chance at a good score on her Transfiguration test. Because of this prank, Sherry retaliated and the war was back on, just subtler this time and more inside jokes like Potter filling her bag with chess pieces somehow and reminding her of the time he beat her or Sherry putting blonde wigs in his bag to remind him how he dressed up as her for Halloween.

Another thing she had been doing was being some sort of therapist for Eleanor Zane. It turns out the girl had been getting bullied by her peers; drawings on her face when she woke up, racist comments thrown around carelessly and then crude comments about her appearance. Eleanor wasn't happy, no one would be, but the girl had confessed in Sherry as soon as the eldest had sat her down and spoke calmly.

Eleanor wanted to wear pants and she wanted to cut her hair short and she hated the fact that her breasts were bigger than others and she hated her name. She hated everything about herself and Sherry saw something of a younger her inside Eleanor's broken frame so she became the friend Eleanor didn't have. She taught her chess, Eleanor taught her some Cantonese and then laughed when she pronounced it horribly, Sherry then told her all about Ilvermorny and in turn, Eleanor talked about her muggle primary school.

She was like a sister of sorts, it scared Sherry to think but it was nice having someone to care for.

Matt, Potter and Eleanor added a lot to her plate but she didn't want to make it seem like it was anything bad. As much as she hated to admit it, she was beginning to like life in England with her group of friends, her boyfriend, the things to keep her busy...it was all starting to seem like normality after a whole school year of being away from home.

There was a month until the year ended and then a couple of weeks later, her mother would becoming over for 4th July and she'd stay for the summer. Sherry couldn't help but smile every time she thought of it, she'd introduce her to Matt, to her friends, tell her all about her year and be able to actually talk to her after a year of hearing nothing.

Louis' birthday had been the day where Sherry could officially look forward to summer, there was nothing else in between those dates so now all she could do was wait and complete her exams before slacking off again. So now that it was his birthday, she had extra excitement.

"Too bad my birthdays on the day of the Defence exam." Louis frowned as one of his and Oliver's dorm mates, Caleb Mount, attacked him by situating a party hat on his head and patting his back before retreating as Louis laughed and shoved him away.

"Well that's only two hours of writing and the sun is shining and we're gonna have a good time at break with our Gryffindor girls by the lake." Amber shook his shoulders and he grinned, adjusting his party hat and Oliver blew the blower in his face again, plastic slapping him in his face and he shoved Oliver away, the boy falling back into Sherry.

"That rhymed." He said from her lap and she pushed him off onto the floor, the thud reverberating around the whole room and with his head buried in the fluffy carpet, he spoke again. "I'm hungry."

"Breakfast it is." Louis took his party hat off, smoothing up his hair also as Oliver did the same and Sherry took her hat off but didn't need to sort her hair out since none of it was a mess, she just stood up and waited for the others.

"You guys do know they're just giving us toast then sending us to the hall, right?" Amber asked; Louis nodded but Sherry and Oliver both faced each other with defeated looks. Everyone knew they were looking forward to their cereal but the examinations prevented them from having it and instead they would have to wait for dinner.

"Come on," Louis put his hands out to Sherry who lazily stretched over and took his hands, letting him pull her up to her feet whilst Oliver pushed himself from the floor with the aggressive help of Amber pushing him up.

The fifth-years left the Common Room in a big group, talking about the previous tests they had done the days before and trying not to talk about how bad they would do on the test they were on their way to. Sherry was admittedly very nervous, she had never paid attention in Defence because almost every second there was an opportunity to pick on Potter and every time she saw the opportunity, she grasped it tightly and claimed it as hers.

Speak of the devil and may he appear.

"Pete wants to borrow some of your Ravenclaw smarts." Potter said as he sidled up to Sherry's side whilst the group of Ravenclaw fifth-years and Gryffindor fifth-years merged into one on their way to the hall, friends approaching each other from every angle.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll do okay Peter." Amber peered past Sherry over to Peter, who was walking beside Potter with a red blush painting his cheeks as he gave the boy beside him the side-eye. "I can help you go over some stuff right now if you'd like."

"Yes please." He breathed out in relief, leaving Potter's side and Amber leaving Sherry's side as they met in the centre in front of their friends and walked ahead of them.

As they left, Amber dug out a large book from her bag and flipped it open to one of the middle pages she had bookmarked in all the Ravenclaw copies of the book. Each bookmark highlighted a different topic they would need for the test and Sherry was sure she could quote it all from memory the amount of times Amber had shoved it under her nose and made her read it.

Sherry would voice her confidence but she knew as soon as she sat down in that hall, it would all disappear from her head once the first page turned and people began their idiosyncrasies they didn't even notice they were doing. But during tests, Sherry noticed everything. Every eye twitch, every hair twirl, every nail bite and then she couldn't focus and the whole thing got ruined.

She was beginning to get stressed even now, staring at the back of Amber's head, the curls bouncing as she talked to Peter and the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins came up the stairs to join them. Nico made a beeline straight for Amber, hands on her shoulders and smiling whilst Amber giggled and blushed a deep red; Sherry shook her head with a small smile and gripped her bag strap tightly.

"You're gonna get a hand cramp if you hold it that tight." Potter mentioned, staring at her knuckles which had gone white from her grip and Sherry looked at them, sighing and letting go of the strap to rub her hands together instead. "Nervous?"

"You think I'm gonna admit that to you?" She raised an eyebrow, facing him and he shrugged with a small smirk before she looked forward and her face dropped into one of anxiousness, her fingers fiddling together again. "But yes, I'm incredibly nervous."

"Well you know from what I've seen in Defence, you're alright at it." He said, turning his head to face her with another smirk and Sherry shook her head again, biting her lip. "I'd say you'd be a lot better if you didn't spend the whole time staring at my beautiful face."

"Please," Sherry scoffed, rolling her eyes as the two of them followed the rest of their group into the Great Hall where numerous toast racks were spread across tables and some people were already beginning to sit down, rushing for the right foods. "I stare at you because I'm thinking about how you have the subtlety of a brick and the depth of a shot glass-"

Potter flinched, his head snapping to the right when Sherry's sentence ended with her yelping and squealing slightly. He had to keep his eyes from rolling back into his head when he spotted Matt behind Sherry, arms around her waist as he lifted her slightly and turned her in the air before placing her down and capturing her in a heated kiss for seven in the morning, he just continued to stand there awkwardly as they kissed.

"We have a strict no shagging in the Great Hall rule." His interrupting voice rang out to them and Sherry pulled back from Matt with a small smirk of amusement on her face; Matt leaned forward, maybe to try and resume their little session but Sherry had turned her head, her eyes pinning to Potter.

"We all know you'd love to see it." She teased and he poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue, shaking his head which made his curls sway from side to side slightly.

"In your dreams, Opal." Potter chuckled slightly, running a hand through his unruly hair as he began to walk backwards down the aisle in between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables, people moving out of the way for him with dirty looks.

"You'll never be in my dreams, Potter." She called after him and all she got was a wave of dismissal as he laughed quietly and turned to walk normally. With a mischievous smirk on her face, she turned back around to face Matt whose face had gone stoic and his swollen lips weren't upturned into a smile anymore. "He's such an idiot."

"Yeah." Matt agreed coldly and Sherry chuckled slightly, glancing back at the boy walking towards his four friends. She caught the eyes of Remus who glanced from Potter to her and looked back at Potter again but by the time he looked towards Sherry, she had faced Matt again who wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"Let's get some toast." She put her hands on his chest, grinning as she pat it and turned out of his arms to grab her limited breakfast. "I need my balanced carbs, come sit with us."

Matt let her take his hand and lead her to sit next to her but as she took some toast out of the rack and stole the jam from Oliver across from her who pulled a face and went to throw something at her but backed off when she pointed her butter knife towards him.

Her boyfriend beside her put an arm around her waist, still touching her and she shifted slightly whilst spreading the jam on her toast. Matt looked at her for a second, his eyes travelling up and down her figure before he turned his head slowly to face where James Potter and the rest of the Marauders were sat together, laughing with Remus Lupin shaking his head with an amused grin.

Matt's jaw clenched at the sight of Potter's head and he turned around, squeezing Sherry to him again and she giggled as she pushed herself away slightly and Matt's arm came loose. He let it drop to his sides and cleared his throat before resting them on the table; Louis Simmons looked over at him suspiciously, Matt glanced up and caught his eyes before Louis looked away with a slight eyebrow raise.

Sherry was laughing with Amber, Oliver was spewing nonsense, Louis was listening in and Matt was glaring. At the people laughing with Sherry, at Sherry, and when he turned his head, at James Potter who ran his hand through his perfect hair and spread his wide smile with perfect glinting teeth.

And he took a piece of toast off of the rack and aggressively bit into it, shaking his head.

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