- Chapter Twenty-Eight -
"Be grateful I'm letting you out."

"YOU WERE WRONG." Potter exclaimed victoriously as he strutted into Dumbledore's office with his usual cocky demeanour on the chilly evening of January 30th, he wore smart clothing that differed from his usual Friday night outfits and he had obviously attempted to tame his hair but whatever method he used hadn't been successful, it still lay in a mess on top of his head but his bright grin didn't seem to have wavered at the fact. Instead, the smile stayed in place as he crossed the office to place himself on one of the two chairs provided for their comfort.

"Wrong about what, exactly?" Sherry asked from her usual seat, furrowing her eyebrows but not bothering to look up at him as her eyes stayed trained on the pages of the Daily Prophet which was the only thing to cure her entertainment and boredom when she knew that the rest of her friends were partying with Lily Evans somewhere in the school.

There was nothing interesting in the Prophet but it was all she could do to keep her looking busy since she had already read Witch Weekly, it delivered to her dorm mate when she was at Quidditch Practice and by the time Amber and Sherry returned to the dorm after their showers and freshening up, Sherry was free to read. Which she had but now regretted reading it so soon.

The Quidditch practices were leading up to the match they were playing in March which was a whole month away but better to improve their skills than to sit and wait and do extra practices the two weeks before the match. One match was happening in February but that one was Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff which determined which team the Ravenclaw team would be playing in March. The one that lost, Sherry hoped for Gryffindor, would play them in March to see if they could regain their placing and if not then they would play Slytherin to determine to overall loser  of this season.

So Louis was determined to get every single player on their team above and beyond with their skills so they could advance to and hopefully win the finals that would occur in May.

Sherry also found that she had another nagging thought on her mind last Friday, one that scared her because she had never been that worried about a person before. Remus clouded her thoughts in their last session in Dumbledore's office, Potter's too and both of them were staring out of the window this time and eyeing the moon with disgust. Though Sherry tried to snap herself out of her nausea for Remus, it didn't seem to disappear even when she busied herself with the nearest book.

He seemed okay when she checked on him the next day though which a sense of small relief flooded through her for. She hated it. It hit her like a brick wall that she cared for Remus and her night had been spent staring up at the ceiling  of her bed, missing home more than ever. The last thing she wanted to do was get attached to Britain and now she was feeling sick when she thought about this random boy she didn't even know that well in pain every full moon.

But there was no use, McGonagall had already made it clear to her once when she skipped a full couple days of lessons that if her goal was to get expelled, it was one she was not going to grant her. Sherry had never regretted her actions back in America but was now actually starting to. All those boyfriends of her mothers she had driven out of the house, all those family pictures she had put in the bin when her appearance changed, all those times Lena had been called into school by the headmistress.

That time where Sherry got arrested and Lena had to pay for her bail which sucked the house dry of funds. It had just been a harmless bit of fun with her no-maj friends, no one was ever meant to get hurt...it wasn't even her fault that they had. The guy was fine anyway, out of the hospital in a day. All Sherry wanted to do all her life was to fit in and now that she was in a different country, it was the last thing she wanted.

Maybe planning to go to someone's birthday party wasn't the best idea if she didn't want to fit in but that didn't mean she didn't want fun.

"Wrong about me not being invited to Evans' birthday party." Potter said, that stupid grin still on his face as Sherry's eyebrows raised in slight surprise before her eyes travelled down the rest of his body to look at the smart button-up he had tucked into his trousers and suddenly the attempted styling of the hair made sense.

"Your joy is understandable, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore swept in from one of the back rooms before Sherry could make fun of him and tell him that he was living proof that God had a sense of humour. "But with my sincerest apologies, I regret to inform you that since Miss Evans' party is tonight, you cannot go. Same with Miss Opal."

"Wha-" His smile dropped for the first time so far and Sherry lifted up the prophet to hide her smirking face from Dumbledore. "Professor, I-"

"I am terribly sorry that you've gotten dressed up for little reason, James." Dumbledore said to him and Sherry peeked over the top of the Prophet and her eyes glinted at the disappointment on Potter's face. "Sherry has made herself comfortable, I suggest you do the same. I'll see you in a couple of hours, children."

With one last look to the both of them and nothing else to say, he walked out of the office and shut the door softly behind him with a small click before the usual locking of the door occurred and the two were stuck inside the room. They heard the soft pattering of his footsteps descending the stairs and Potter sighed as he ran a hand through his hair frustratedly, dishevelling it like usual. He sighed in frustration and slouched back against his chair in anger.

His ears listened to the rustling of paper and he turned his head in curiosity as Sherry stood from her seat and put the Prophet down on it instead before reaching to the zipper of the oversized jacket she was wearing which he just presumed belonged to Simmons or González but she pulled the zip down and shed the jacket to reveal a red mini dress with half sleeves that bagged slightly around her arms. He sat up slightly at the sight of it, narrowing his eyes at the fanciness of just a Friday evening dress was; it had bouffant sleeves, a snatched waistline and a flared skirt with ruffled trimming. Definitely not fit for their usual Friday nights.

It hugged her body so perfectly that it made him mad because he couldn't find anything to insult her about it at all, he desperately searched for a reason to ridicule her but as she took her blonde curly hair out of her ponytail and let it fall gracefully to her shoulders, he only looked away with a clenched jaw and a wave of disappointment.

Sherry looked down at herself and smirked to herself at the sight of her dress she had brought to England with her purely for partying and flirting purposes because hopefully Matt would be there tonight and with how she looked in this dress and the shoes that Oliver had gotten her for Christmas, she hoped that things between them would become clearer.

Despite the fact that she didn't want to get attached to Britain, she wouldn't have a problem with getting to know Matt before because she actually liked him and he made her feel things. Besides, there was a difference between liking people and being attached to them, she could enjoy it whilst it lasted and when her mother finally realised she was better in America, she could say a sweet goodbye to Matt and keep in touch if they wanted.

With a firm shake of her head, she brushed the thought out of her mind. Having a fling was different than getting attached, she reminded herself for her own comfort and sighed again as she began walking over to the door and taking her wand out of her dress whilst Potter turned his head slowly again with narrowed eyes at where she was going.

Sherry pointed her wand at the door in front of her, squinting slightly whilst he watched. "Reducto." She said and the door exploded into a pile of tiny ashes, leaving nothing on the hinges as Potter jumped in shock at the explosion before letting his mouth fall agape and staring at the gap in the wall with wide-eyes and a face that cold only be described as horror-struck.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He jumped up out of his chair, glancing between the girl and the empty rectangle shape in the wall whilst he stammered and grasped for something to say but no words were left on the tip of his tongue. In distress, his hands went to his hair and tugged at her as he looked close-to-tears at how she had demolished the door, she only rolled her eyes. "WHAT THE HELL?"

"Be grateful I'm letting you out." She deadpanned and grabbed him by his sleeve, pushing him over the threshold and he did an odd jump sort of thing over the ashes so he didn't disrupt the pile. He was still in a state of shock as he whirled around to watch her follow him out of the door and point her wand back at the ashes.

"Reparo."

Slowly, the ashes floated up into the air and in a small whirl of confusing mess, it constructed back into the door that she had blown up. Sherry muttered something along the lines of 'didn't think that was going to work' whilst she opened and closed the door to make sure it was still working which it was. She then hummed to herself in satisfaction and cast a spell to lock the door before turning to face Potter and dropping the small smile that had formed.

"You're welcome..." She trailed off as she walked (it was more of a strut) past him and started to descend the stairs of the headmasters tower towards the corridor below, hearing her annoying company's footsteps behind her before he quite literally jumped off of the last step to land next to her and match his steps with hers as she looked around for anyone that could recognise them and tell someone that they were out of the office.

"I'm not going to thank you." He said as they walked side-by-side, checking around corners and slowing their steps whenever they heard someone else walking by. What she did was kind so he could go to the party too but he wasn't going to tell her that, she didn't even seem that bothered when he said he wasn't going to thank her.

She had just shrugged it off and carried on walking, her shoes making noise on the stone floor which Potter glared down at and started an argument about so the two of them bickered on their way up to Gryffindor Tower and Sherry was half-tempted to push him down the stairs and go to the party herself whilst she let him lay with a couple of broken limbs.

But it was soon enough that the portrait hole came into view and the two of them glared at each other once more before he said the password and it opened to show a mild party with a banner saying Happy Birthday on one of the walls. Sherry spotted Lily immediately as they walked in, her hair seemed to be extra bright today as she talked with Marlene and Amber, Louis and Oliver with them and striking up conversation.

She was just glad they had managed to skip out on a session today.

"Hey." A voice said next to her ear and she felt a hand on her waist before she turned with furrowed eyebrows to see Matt stood in between her and Potter and her eyes lit up at the sight of him there. "I thought you couldn't get out of your thing."

"I found a way." She grinned and watched as Potter rolled his eyes before walking further into the party towards where she saw the infamous Marauders sat on the sofas. "God, he's annoying."

Matt laughed slightly and Shery smirked at the sound, biting her lip slightly as he looked her outfit up and down before looking up at her eyes finally and smiling whilst his eyebrow raised the tiniest bit. "You look amazing, as always. Fancy a drink?"

"Let me go say hi to Lily first." She said with a small flush of pink on her face and he nodded once before she walked away from him and towards her friends in the middle of the party. Amber noticed her first and widened her eyes with a small gasp before waving her over.

"I thought you couldn't make it." Lily grinned and pulled her into a hug as she approached, she then glanced back towards where Matt was near the portrait hole and smirked. "Has he asked  you to dance yet?"

"Asked for a drink but I wanted to wish you a sweet 16th first." Sherry said and Lily rolled her eyes playfully and waved her off before lancing back to Matt again and then to Sherry with another one of her dashing smiles.

"Wish received." Lily laughed, shaking her head slightly before gesturing to the boy watching them from afar. "Go get your guy."

They hugged once more and Sherry turned to face Marlene who seemed to have walked away towards a Hufflepuff who stood away from the group so Sherry decided to greet her later, she went to speak to Amber but the girl turned her around with a shake of her head and pushed her in Matt's direction which made Sherry stumble over her feet but she made it there anyway and smiled at the boy who was still waiting for her.

"I'll take that drink."

"Great."

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A/N: very very sorry for the late update!
family stuff