Julia stood outside the Divination classroom, putting off going in for as long as possible. Divination was her least favourite lesson, but it was good for when she just wanted to relax and do nothing.

She walked in just after the bell rang, slinging her bag onto the floor by her usual seat, which was positioned in the back corner of the room. She shared a table with an anxious Hufflepuff boy and a Slytherin boy who refused to speak to either of them. She was fine with that.

"You're late again, Miss Thorne," Professor Starling said pointedly as she sunk into the cushy chair.

"Yup," Julia agreed.

Professor Starling breathed heavily out of his nose then turned his attention back to the rest of the class, Julia smirked. Annoying teachers was one of her favourite pastimes.

"Today we'll be focusing on horoscopes, turn to page 17 in your textbooks and, in pairs, use the planetary positions to read each other's current horoscope," Starling instructed. "A map of the current positions of the major planets and stars is in the middle of the room," he flicked his wand and a stream of swirling black smoke erupted from it. It danced through the air, slowly changing colours and forming figures. A moment later, the replica of the galaxy had been fully completed - hovering over their heads, an occasional wisp of smoke trailing around the room.

"Get on with it!" He clucked.

The Hufflepuff boy looked thoroughly distressed at his words, he clearly didn't want to partner up with either her or the Slytherin. She didn't particularly want to be with one of them either, but they were no worse than anyone else in the class.

The Slytherin boy finally made the move on who would be with who when he stood up and moved to the next table over, partnering up with someone else from his house.

"So, do you want to go first, or should I?" The Hufflepuff asked, he was nervously fiddling with the pages in the book and Julia could see his leg shaking under the table. She sighed quietly.

"I'm a Taurus," she said simply.

He quickly turned to the right page in the book and scanned it slightly before turning back to her.

"Uh, well right now, Venus is aligned with Aldebaran, the brightest star in the Taurus constellation, so that means, that, uh, the chances of you finding love soon are heightened. But, uh, it says you should be careful, because it will be a forbidden romance, your friends most likely won't approve of it," the boy stammered out.

Julia rolled her eyes, "Well, I don't have friends so that isn't an issue, and this is all bull anyway."

The hufflepuff didn't know how to respond it seemed, so he said, "Uh, I'm a Capricorn,"

Julia flipped slowly through the book, scanning through the text and studied the galaxy that hovered in front of her.

"It says here that you're going to run into some misfortune," she stated blankly, "but only if you consume any carbohydrates. Some of the possible outcomes are severe muscle injury, a sprained wrist or death."

The boy squeaked, "but most foods have carbohydrates in," he panicked.

Julia shrugged, "It's what the book says."

Her attention was caught by someone 'oohing' loudly and an eruption of giggles coming from across the room, "Lily's in love!" McKinnon sang.

Julia could see the girl in question frantically shaking her head. Her cheeks had turned red from the attention, she looked kind of cute. But that didn't mean Julia wanted anything to do with her, it would only lead to trouble. She would just observe from a distance like she always did when she developed a slight crush - it would go away.

"Have you finally realised your undying love for me Evans?" Potter asked loudly from the table in front of Julia.

"No, Potter," Lily snapped, the embarrassed smile falling from her face and being replaced by a glare, "I don't like you, and I never will."

"Ouch, you wound me, Lily-Flower," James pretended to clutch his heart in pain, "one day you'll come around," he said cheerily, turning back to his friends.

Julia saw Lily scoff before she turned around and her lips twitched slightly, forming the beginning of a smile. If there was one thing she liked about Lily (other than her pretty hair and warm eyes and sweet smile) it was the scenes she and Potter caused. It was always fun to watch Potter get ignored and insulted by the redhead.

"Does it say what kind of misfortune I'm going to run into?" A worried voice brought her back to attention.

"Death," Julia shrugged noncommittally.

"Right, but are there any specifics?"

So Julia spent the rest of the lesson trying to shake off the distressed Hufflepuff while he fretted over his possible bad luck.

;

"Guys, seriously!" Lily exclaimed later that evening, Marlene, Dorcus, Alice and Emma had cornered her in the bathroom and were questioning her about the day's Divination lesson.

"I don't have a crush on anyone, you know Divination is a completely phoney subject!" She said loudly over the top of their voices.

"Yeah, we know that," Marlene said impatiently, "but there's no way your cheeks would have flushed that red if you didn't," She pointed at Lily's cheeks, which she could feel heating up again.

"I'm going red because you're all accusing me of something that isn't true," Lily defended.

"If you say so," Emma sighed, backing up slightly and turning back to whatever she was doing.

"Is it James?" Marlene hissed excitedly.

"NO!" Lily exclaimed, louder than she meant to, "Why would you even think that?"

"Well, you talk about him quite a bit, and you always get really defensive about him, like this," Alice admitted quietly.

"I hate him," Lily stated firmly, "he's a complete tosser who bullies people for fun."

Alice, Dorcus and Marlene shared a look, which made Lily roll her eyes, she tried to force her way past them again, but apparently they weren't finished.

"Is is Snape?" Dorcus asked, chewing her lip in thought.

"No!" Lily groaned, "He's one of my closest friends, it would be weird for us to be together."

The three of then glanced at each other again, grinning this time, "I don't think he feels the same," Marlene smirked.

"What do you mean?" Lily questioned, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

It was Marlene's turn to groan this time, and Alice turned around to leave, giggling as she went, "I need to do the Charms homework," she called over her shoulder, Dorcus following her lead.

"I mean," the blonde in front of her started slowly, "he might be expecting your 'friendship' to go a little further."

Lily didn't say anything, just carried on frowning at her friend.

"He likes you!" Marlene exclaimed impatiently, "Like, a lot. How have you not noticed, Lils? He is so clearly in love with you!"

Lily let that sink in. Then she forced the idea out of her mind again.

"Sev isn't in love with me," she shook her head forcefully.

"If you say so," Marlene sang and skipped away, allowing Lily to finally go for a pee.

Sev didn't have a crush on her, she scoffed as she rinsed her hands under the cool water.

And she didn't have a crush on anyone either.