Open Your Eyes

The next morning, I once more found myself sitting in the library. However, there were a few differences between yesterday and today. There was no one else sitting in the library trying to study. Today, there were six new books, and six new pieces of parchment- instead of the three books we used yesterday.

Plus, instead of it just being Sirius and I sitting at the table, James and Remus joined us. They had free periods today.

"How did you ever convince your Professors to let the two of you skip class?" James laughed, looking between Sirius and I. He was sitting across the table, next to Sirius. While Remus was sitting to my left.

"Normally when the smartest student offers to tutor one of the worst, a teacher will agree to anything. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, now would you James? Remus here might, but I doubt you would." I smirked, cocking my head to the side ever so slightly. Remus and Sirius laughed loudly, as James' mouth dropped open.

"Now that's just rude!" James huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. I ignored him, and turned my gaze to look at Sirius. He looked more confident today than he had yesterday. Hopefully, how well he had done with Potions yesterday boosted his spirits a bit. That extra confidence could actually help him do better today. "Maybe a bit, now be quiet. Sirius and I have a lot of work to do. So either sit there quietly, or leave. I won't say it again." I gave him one and only one warning.

I kept my eyes on Sirius. Once more, he and Remus began laughing at what I had said to their friend.

"Alright, Sirius, pick which one you want to do first, same method as yesterday." I sighed, motioning to the six books that were sitting in front of us. Just like yesterday, they were books for first year students. The first book he picked up was for Herbology. So, I began readying the questions.

'What healing herbs may be eaten raw to cure shallow wounds?'. 'What is the stem color of the Moly plant?'. 'Why should you never eat the leaves of the Alihosty Tree?'. 'What are the other two names of the plant Aconite?'. 'The Gilly Weed plant it native to what body of water?'. 'What is the main food source of a Venomous Tentacula?'. 'What tree will protect anyone touching its trunk from attack of dark creatures?'.

Looking over his answers, I sighed and shook my head. "Sirius, leaves of the Alihosty tree causes uncontrollable laughter, not crying. And though Mandrake is used to cure petrification, if you directly hear it's cry it will cause death." I corrected him. Those had been the only two questions that he had gotten wrong out of all the ones he had been asked. So that tells me he at least pays attention in his Herbology class; but he just gets things mixed up.

He grabbed the next book without saying anything and began reading. Charms.

He seemed almost angry as he began flipping through the pages of the book. I couldn't bring myself to look away from him for a few seconds. Almost a full minute passed before I was able to tear my eyes away and began making his questions.

'What spell would you use to summon an object?'. 'What does and Horton-Keitch Braking charm do?'. 'Which charm is used to magically seal a door?'. 'A patronus reflects what?'. 'What does a langlock spell do?'.

I don't want to say that I was surprised that he got all of the questions right, but I definitely hadn't been expecting it. Honestly, I thought he would miss at least one. "You did really good!" I smiled, nodding my head ever so slightly. He very quickly smiled upon hearing my words of encouragement. From the corner of my eye, I could see James very obviously rolling his eyes. "I mean, I do pay attention during class. I'm just no good with studying and putting that knowledge together for exams." He shrugged, grabbing another book.

This book covers the study of ancient runes. It had to have been one of the hardest classes I"ve ever encountered during my time at Hogwarts. It wasn't difficult because of its content, but because Professor Babbling is just so boring. It's hard not to fall asleep.

'What does Ehwaz mean?'. 'Count to nine using runes.'. 'What is the definition of Eihwaz?'.

The questions for this subject were pretty basic.

Sirius was able to count to five, but after that he began mixing up the numbers. Listing them on the sheet out of order. He also confused the definitions of the two words and mixed them up as well. So looks like that's something we're going to have to work on as well. Hopefully it wont be too difficult.

He slammed his hands down on the table, and threw himself back in the chair. "You're not going to give up on me now. We still have three subjects left to cover, so go on and pick what we do next." I ordered. My voice was strong and stern. There was a power behind it that I knew he wouldn't be able to say no to. Nodding his head, Sirius simply leaned over and took the book from the far end of the table.

History of Magic. James watched me with curious eyes as I once more picked up my quill and began writing questions down.

'Who is the best known expert on Magical History?'. 'Who were the founders of Hogwarts?'. 'Who is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone?'. 'Who was Emeric the Evil?'. 'Who is Eleric the Eager?'.

Basic questions about people and events from different points throughout history.

After that subject was done, we only had two subjects left to cover. Transfiguration and Divination. I grabbed the piece of parchment from Sirius and began looking over his answers. He had done pretty well with these. His only real problem was his spelling- he had misspelled a few things, and during exams that would cost him dearly.

"Just make sure that you go back and double check your spelling. A lot of those names can be pretty tricky." I told him with a sigh. Taking the parchment, I rolled it up before placing it to the side with the others.

Sirius breezed through both Transfiguration and Divination with perfect scores on both subjects. It was safe to say that I was impressed.

The knowledge is there in his mind, but she stresses himself out so much that he's unable to focus when time comes to actually take the exam. So it seems that is something we would have to work on as well. Get him to come out of his shell, comfortable in tough situations such as taking his exams.

"You did really good today, Sirius." I smiled, gathering all my things together. He looked almost confused as his eyes scanned my face. "You really think we can pull this off?" He asked me. His voice was soft as he spoke to me. "It's not about pulling something off Sirius. You know this stuff, you just proved that. Yes, some stuff you need to work on; but you're smarter than you think you are You know the answers to these questions, so all you really have to do now is learn how to apply that knowledge when you take exams." I couldn't stop myself from smiling at him.

"How am I supposed to do that?" He looked even more confused now. There was a bit of anger mixed in there as well; but not much. "I will show you how....during our next session." I smiled. After a few moments both the confusion and anger fell away from his face. "So, that's it? We're done for the day?" Sirius questioned me.

Lifting my eyes back to his, I smiled ever so slightly before nodding my head. "We are done for the day." I confirmed.

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense." James spoke suddenly, stopping me from collecting my things. Once more he was looking at me with curious eyes. "What are you talking about now?" I questioned him now. The look in his eye made it obvious that he didn't trust me.

"You're supposed to be helping him study; but you haven't even done that. Asking him a few questions on all the subjects isn't going to help him." James scoffed in my direction. This boy is making it very hard to be his friend. "James, shut up." Remus hissed, glaring at the boy across from him. "You don't know what you're talking about." Sirius added.

Not even attempting to control the anger welling up inside of me, I shot up out of my chair. The legs of the wooden seat scraped against the floor. "I am helping him study, which is more than I can say for you. You're only here because-what- you had a free period? You're not even trying to help him!" I snarled at him.

"Amery." Remus sighed, shaking hi head ever so slightly. My eyes never left James' as I snatched up my satchel. "I have to learn what he knows before I can teach him what he doesn't. " Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I turned on my heel and made my way out of the library.

"Amery, wait!" Sirius tried calling after me. Though I was done listening to them. I left the group of boys sitting at the table with one another. I could hear James and Sirius start arguing with one another as I walked out of the library.

I could also hear footsteps chasing after me as I walked down the hallway. "Amery, please just wait a moment please." Remus' voice filled my ears; but I kept walking. After a moment Remus caught up with me and began walking along next to me. His long legs made it easier for him to keep up with my fast pace. "You know, you really shouldn't let James get under your skin like that. He's an idiot- you should really just ignore him." He sounded out of breath as he spoke. My feet came to a dead stop and I turned my head to look up at the tall boy. "Just how am I supposed to do that when he's everywhere?" I was unintentionally shouting.

"I just mean, James doesn't think about things like the rest of us do. He doesn't consider the reactions his words cause." Remus tried once more.

Scoffing ever so slightly, I shook my head. "I never understood how you could stand to be around him so much, he's just an entitled ass." I stated simply, really not caring if I hurt any feelings in the process. It's what I believe to be true. At least until he proves otherwise.