The month of May ushered in warmth and delight, luring the students of Hogwarts away from the old, dusty Library. Instead, they basked in the sunshine, lounging on the lush spring grass, sharing laughter, and frolicking by the lake. However, all the nice weather and precious moments, spent with friends, couldn't change the reality that the year-end exams were fast approaching.
This fact weighed more heavily on certain students than others. Peter Pettigrew, for instance, found himself plagued by sleeplessness, resorting to the rather annoying practice of soliciting random students to quiz him on various subjects. His incessant pestering reached such a point that Catherine, driven to her wits' end, started discreetly administering a few drops of Sleeping Draught into his pumpkin juice during dinner, a manoeuvre that was met with great relief in the Gryffindor Common Room.
Sirius, on the other hand, was a stark contrast. Following the unsettling Boggart incident in the Honeydukes cellar, he maintained an unwavering silence about what had transpired. Catherine observed a marked change in his behaviour; he immersed himself in an exhaustive study of Defence Against the Dark Arts, seemingly oblivious to all else.
Moreover, it seemed as though he felt an unspoken obligation toward her. Ignoring her vocal protests, he assumed the role of her bodyguard, leading to a series of incidents where those who dared to utter offensive words in her direction became unwitting subjects for Sirius' recently mastered jinxes and hexes. Notably, Severus Snape found himself on the receiving end of these more often than not.
Catherine had believed that Snape's loathing for her couldn't possibly intensify further, but she soon realised she was gravely mistaken. Each time their gaze met in the classroom, the Great Hall, or the corridors, Catherine felt an overwhelming surge of repulsion, anger, and an unquenchable thirst for vengeance emanating from Snape's cold, black eyes. These eyes, it appeared, only displayed any semblance of emotion when looking at her.
"Seriously, Lily, why do you keep talking to this guy?" – Catherine asked one sunny noon as she and her friend decided to have lunch under the shade of a massive willow tree by the lakeshore. The black-haired Gryffindor had just opened her school bag, which appeared to be full of dried Doxy droppings – noticeably diminutive in size, yet they exude a remarkably foul smell.
"Eww! Put that away! It smells so bad!" – gagged Lily.
"I know it does. It will take forever to clean." – Catherine growled – "Which brings me back to my question, since this wasn't in my bag before Herbology."
"Well, it could have been any of the Slytherins. None of them can stand you." – shrugged the other girl.
"At least it's because of what I've done to them, not because of my blood status." – said Catherine with self-satisfaction.
"This was really mean, you know." – mumbled Lily with a sad voice.
"What? No, Lils, it's not what I meant!" – exclaimed the black-haired witch – "What I wanted to say was that it's so stupid and senseless to treat people like they do."
"Severus is not like them." – said the red-haired Gryffindor softly – "He told me the blood doesn't matter. He was my first connection to this world, to our world. I know he tries to impress his friends and does stupid things, but he is not as bad as you think."
Catherine looked at her friend with pity.
"Lils, he called me Mudblood twice just this month. I'm not sure how much of it is peer pressure and how much is his own beliefs, mixed with whatever feelings he has towards you."
"I'll talk with him!" – said Lily decisively – "I won't allow him to keep offending you, but you need to also drop this 'Snivellus' thing. There are so many people who laugh at him because of that."
"How is it my fault that people laugh at him?" – asked Catherine stubbornly – "If he wasn't such an arrogant, sarcastic, obnoxious person, this wouldn't have happened."
"But what they mock him for is his appearance, his clothes, or because he doesn't have money. It's not like he's from some famous family either. He has a lot of problems at home." – explained Lily gently.
Catherine felt a slight pang of something that could have been guilt if it weren't for all the times Severus Snape had offended, mocked, and hexed her. She flung her head back and spoke coldly.
"Everyone has issues at home. Not everyone worships Dark Arts by refusing to take a shower or get their hair cut."
"You are really impossible." – snapped Lily – "He showers often enough. Sometimes we can't help with how we look like, Catherine."
"Whatever," – interrupted the other witch – "we've wasted enough time with this. Let's have some food. I'll leave my bag over there. I hope it's far enough not to smell it."
The two young witches had their lunch in relative silence. It seemed that neither of them was willing to start talking first, and they were still affected by the touchy subject from earlier. Finally, Lily dared to make the first step.
"Remus's sick again?" – she asked.
"Yeah," – answered Catherine, swallowing the last bite of her sandwich – "it really sucks that it happened so close to the exams. I hope he would be able to revise."
"I know, right?" – said Lily – "He was really worried about Charms and Astronomy. I prepared some of my notes; maybe he can use them to study more efficiently."
"You are always so diligent." – smiled Catherine.
"Well, not all of us can be some once-in-a-generation genius who learns everything faster than a Niffler in a vault." – chuckled Lily and tossed one arm around Catherine's shoulder.
"Niffler in a vault?" – laughed Catherine – "Where did you hear that from?"
'Mary.' – admitted the other girl, blushing.
"Of course, who else?" – giggled Catherine, but then her tone turned serious – "Honestly, I'm no genius. Half the time, I just follow my instincts. You gain solid systematic knowledge. I thrive in the chaos."
Lily smiled at her friend.
"You really have a hard time accepting praise, don't you?" – she said with a playful grin – "Which reminds me, being the systematic person I am, after comparing the Astronomy exams from the past few years, I'm almost certain that we'll need to fill in a moon chart. You'd better review it."
"See? That's what I meant. Thanks for the pointers, I'll make sure to be prepared. Now, how about some chilled orange juice before going back to class?" – said Catherine and pointed her wand towards the bottle – "Gelurefresco!"