the_debt_of_time

through the air and into Professor Flitwick's outstretched arms, knocking him backward
off his feet. Several people laughed.
Mia and Lily sighed and stood up, rushing to Professor Flitwick's side, and helped
him to stand.
"Thank you," Professor Flitwick panted. "Very well, everybody, you're free to go!"
"How do you think you did?" Mary asked Mia and Lily as they joined up with Alice,
heading toward the lake. All four girls linked arms, which caused Mia to laugh and roll her
eyes.
"If I don't get an Outstanding, I'll scream," she admitted, remembering the feeling
of only receiving an Exceeds Expectations the first time she took the test.
"Me too. I wonder if we were adequately prepared," Lily said, nervously worrying
the buttons on her robes between ink-stained fingers. "With Professor Higgs being
arrested.. ."
"You'll have done brilliantly, Lils." Mia looked ahead, watching her brother play
with his stupid Snitch, while Sirius and Remus laughed, and Peter had his nose buried in
his exam questions. "I'm going to go sit with the boys," she said and made to leave to
follow her pack—and Peter—to the beech tree by the edge of the lake.
"Oh, no you don't," Mary insisted, locking her arm tightly with Mia's. "We've been
nice because you're a bit of a nutter when it comes to revising, and we didn't want you to
curse our faces, but I have been waiting months and months, and our exams are finally over;
so now you're going to tell us what happened with you, Sirius, and Remus the night of
Remus's party."
Mia immediately flushed, looking longingly at her boys, who all smirked at her while
she was literally pulled away from the comfort of their gossip-less conversations. "I don't
know what you're talking about, Mary. Remus and I dated for a year, you knew that."
"Did you snog Sirius while you were with Remus?" Alice asked innocently. "Was
that why he was so angry?"
"Remus was angry? How did you know?" Mia asked.
"When Frank and I woke up in the Room of Requirement, everyone had left," Alice
said as she pulled her scarf from around her neck and transfigured it into a blanket to sit
on. "We went back to the common room, and Remus was there pacing in front of the