Chapter 32

Adria's transfigurations class was rather busy when she entered the following day, her books gripped in her hand as she walked with Sirius, but upon their arrival, she noticed that their class would be with the Ravenclaw's this year. Adria grinned when Milo waved her over, gesturing to the seat beside him, "I saved you a seat!"

"Thanks Milo," Adria smiled gratefully, setting her things on her desk as she watched Sirius take the seat behind her, she turned in her seat to face him, leaning her elbows on his desk as she watched him bring out his book.

"Merlin, Ads, you gave me a fright!" Sirius grumbled as he clutched his heart, watching Adria's smile turn into a grin as she let out a laugh. She peered at the book in front of Sirius noticing that it wasn't the book for the class.

"That's not the transfigurations book," Adria muttered, pointing at the book on the table, Sirius nodded his head, opening It to reveal countless notes.

"It's my astrology book," he shrugged, "quite enjoy it actually, it's a good read."

"Is that the one I always see you with?" asked Adria, her head resting on her hand as she attempted to read the notes, "well, in your dorm, mostly."

"The very same one," Sirius nodded, a small smile on his face as the rest of the class started to pile through the doors. James took a seat next to Sirius, muttering frantically to Adria that their practices would have to be longer and harder, if she wanted to perfect her flying for the try outs.

Remus and Peter took a seat in front of Adria and Milo, and Adria turned from Sirius for a minute to talk to the two of them, who smiled when she greeted them, "I'm so tired," she muttered, her eyes drooping slightly as she talked with the two boys.

"Yes, because you were up all night laughing with Alina," Remus scoffed, rolling his eyes as she attempted to scowl at him.

"You're supposed to feel sympathetic," she mumbled, resting her head on her desk as she awaited the lesson to begin. The class had a few more minutes left until it was supposed to begin, and Adria's head made no attempts to lift from the desk until the padding of feet attracted Adria's attention to the rather confident cat making its way to the front of the classroom, and just a moment later did McGonagall appear.

"Welcome class," McGonagall's voice rang through the large classroom, her eyes peering over her spectacles at the fourth years in front of her, "to fourth year Transfigurations."

Adria opened to the front page of her book, her elbow propped on the desk and her chin propped on her hand, "Now I must say that we have some exceptional students in this classroom," McGonagall's voice boomed, Adria smiled faintly when the woman's eyes swept in her direction, eyeing her, Remus and Milo, before sweeping past each of the students.

"You'd think we're bloody invisible," Sirius grumbled, earning Adria's attention as she turned around with a smirk.

"Maybe if you done your work, she'd praise you," Adria muttered, sarcasm lacing her voice whilst Sirius scowled.

"What's the fun in that?" asked Sirius, eyeing McGonagall at the other side of the room in hopes that they wouldn't get caught talking.

"You have a point," Adria nodded, "now shush." She turned back around in her chair, her head leaning against Milo's arm when her eyes drooped with another wave of tiredness.

"Today we will be learning how to transform a Hedgehog into a pincushion," her voice, whilst intimidating, was oddly calming to Adria as she went over the basic skill needs of today's lesson. Adria had read about fourth year spells countlessly, and knew them as well as she could as a student, but all she wanted right now was sleep.

"I trust that you all understand that my help is here if needed, but I'd want you all to try it on your own firstly," McGonagall finished her speech and headed off to her desk where a stack of parchment paper flew in front of her, and a quill lifted from the ink bottle beside her.

"Oi hoppy?!" Adria frowned as she turned around, an odd look on her face as she looked at Sirius, "help me?"

"Did you just call me Hoppy?" asked Adria, repeating what Sirius said as she tapped her wand absentmindedly on his desk, he grinned as he nodded.

"Like Hopkins!" He smirked, earning a scoff from James in the midst of rolling his eyes.

"You just lost my help, Black." Adria grumbled, her eyes narrowing at him as she turned around in her seat, "hoppy," she repeated, shaking her head as Milo looked rather amused, "do I look like a frog?!"

"Of course not, Ads," Milo chuckled, shaking his head just the same as her and getting on with the lesson.

Whilst the sleepiness was affecting her, Adria tried to power on with the lesson, ignoring her drooping eyes and slightly sore head, she had only one failed attempt at turning the hedgehog into the pincushion, which attracted McGonagall's attention, but when she was able to turn the disformed version of a pincushion back into a hedgehog, the professor was satisfied enough to forget about the small mistake.

Milo had finished before Adria did, and when there was finally a pincushion sitting on her desk, after her failed attempt, her head rested back onto Milo's arm, both of them completely oblivious to the - extremely annoyed - stares from Sirius just behind them.

"How'd you do?" asked Remus as he turned around, a pincushion sitting lifelessly on his desk and his elbow now propped against Adria's desk, she gestured to the pincushion in front of her with a tired smile, and he done the same.

"I messed up a little bit though," she mumbled, "it looked a bit odd, so I changed it back and tried again."

"Well at least you knew how to change it back," Remus nodded, "I'd be completely stuck."

"It's not that hard really, it's just a slightly different wave of the wand and a similar spell," she shrugged, her wand now resting on the desk and her notebook opened in front of her, she was trying to write much more in her notebook, seeing as It was her only hobby before she still wanted to continue it on.

"Got anything good?" asked Peter, nodding towards the notebook and not the hedgehog still wandering around his desk, Adria shook her head, a pen between her teeth as she thought with a frown.

"It's so hard to think now," she sighed, her fingers tapping her chin whilst it sat in the palm of her hand, "it's like I can't have both, I could write poems or I could have friends."

"And what would you choose?" asked Remus, his head titled as she looked down at her book.

"As much as it would upset me, I'd never change the moment that I finally had friends, I'd have to give up poems."

-

"So why are we here again?" asked Adria, leaning back on the chair of the library, her notebook in front of her was open and her pen rested atop of it, but just like usual, she hadn't written a thing in it.

"Because I need to study for Divination, and you're going to try and write some poems," Remus chuckled, books sprawled out on the desk in front of them on the topic of Divination that Adria didn't understand at all, she had the option of that or Care of Magical Creatures and the latter seemed much more interesting, and she did enjoy the class as much as she thought she would.

"I really don't understand Divination, if I'm honest," Adria shrugged, "I see that maybe centaurs is it? That can see the future but I don't truly believe it."

"I thought it'd be easy," Remus grumbled, their voices low so that they wouldn't attract the attention of the librarian that liked to make her way around the room in case she could catch anyone speaking.

"Where you wrong?"

"Yup," he sighed, writing down notes on a piece of parchment that sat beside the book opened, he almost knocked over the ink bottle beside the parchment which made Adria chuckle as she fished through her bag for a pen.

"I'm assuming you know how to use one?" she asked, handing him the pen which he took gratefully, "with your mum being a muggle and all, it's surprising you don't use them."

"I like the idea of quills," he shrugged, "but I admit that they aren't the most practical." He sighed, shaking his head slightly as Adria leaned back in her chair.

"Oh, I needed to ask you," Adria started, "where is Sirius?" she remembered seeing James and Peter in the common room before her and Remus left for the library but Sirius was nowhere in sight.

"Worried about your boyfriend?" Remus teased, earning a glare from Adria he raised his arms in defence, "I saw him speaking to some girl in Ravenclaw, she's in our transfiguration's class. They left together but that's all I know."

"Where did they go?" asked Adria, trying to mask the frown that was clearly evident on her face.

"I don't know," Remus chuckled, "what did I just tell you, I don't know anything else."

"I didn't know that he was friends with anyone in Ravenclaw," she grumbled, her shoulders slumping slightly as she picked up her pen.

"She just started talking to him in class, didn't you see?" asked Remus, his eyebrow raised.

"No, Milo was telling me a story about Finn falling down the stairs over summer and he couldn't help him because he was laughing so much," she muttered, wondering if Milo was only trying to distract her so she wouldn't have to witness that.

"She offered to help him with the work, seeing as he didn't get anything done," Remus shrugged, "but that's all I know."

"Mhmm," Adria muttered, "I would've helped him." She whispered, she didn't know he needed help, honestly.

"Don't think he really cares about the help, Adria," Remus spoke truthfully, "as much as it pains me to tell you, as his future wife who is so clearly jealous, I think he was just happy that a girl was talking to him."

"I'm not jealous," Adria growled, her eyes narrowing as she looked at a rather amused Remus, "and I'm a girl, I talk to him."

"A pretty girl-" Remus stopped himself when he realised what he had said, facepalming himself he spoke, "you're gorgeous, Ads, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that you're his best friend, so if another pretty girl talks to him, he's going to want to talk back."

"That was the weirdest compliment, but thanks?" it was almost like a question as she forced a small chuckle, "he can talk to whoever he likes, it's none of my business."

"And you're completely fine with it?" asked Remus, his eyebrow arched as he looked at her warily.

"I don't care, at all," she spoke with a tone that confirmed that she was lying, a small smirk appearing on Remus lips as he nodded.

"Of course you don't," Remus spoke, hiding his smirk much better than Adria hiding the frown on hers.

"I don't know what you're trying to imply, Remus John Lupin, but it's wrong nonetheless." Adria huffed, her arms crossed over her chest as her gaze didn't lift from her notebook.

"Well, Adria I don't know your middle name Hopkins, whatever I am implying, you clearly thought of that above everything else, which means that I am right." Remus shrugged, a grin on his lips whilst Adria rolled her eyes.

"If you must know, my middle name is Belle." Adria spoke, finally meeting his gaze.

"Didn't you say your name means dark?" Adria nodded at Remus' words, "so you're literally called Dark Beauty?"

"Well technically, yeah." Adria laughed.

"That's the coolest name I've ever heard," Remus muttered, "dark beauty is like the name of an agent."

"Like a spy?" Adria asked, earning a nod from Remus.

"Dark Beauty, come in, Dark Beauty!" Remus deepened his voice, as though he was mimicking a spy whilst Adria clasped her hand over her mouth, "Dark Beauty, can I call you that from now on?"

"It'd be a bit odd," Adria said truthfully, "don't you think?"

"No, it's completely brilliant!" Remus exclaimed, both of them hiding their faces when the librarian looked their way, "Dark Beauty Hopkins."

"Sounds like a rather weird name," Adria scoffed.

"Well you have two options," Remus smirked mischievously, "either I call you Dark Beauty, or we talk about how badly you fancy Sirius."

"Dark Beauty it is," Adria grumbled, glaring at Remus whose smile widened.