Anika tried to ignore the headlines that appeared bearing her name and the sidelong looks that people shot her in the corridors. The letters that Mr Burke sent her did not help this, as the man was adamantly trying to get Anika to campaign along with him so that she could stay with the shop.

The truth was though, Anika wasn't at all sure what she really wanted. She liked Perenelle and Nicolas, they were nice to her and didn't ask too much of her. But she had been raised at Borgin and Burke's, it was what she knew and she didn't think that she wanted to leave the shop behind.

Thoughts of the trial were banished from her mind however with the approach of First-Year exams. Of course, no one was doing as much work as the fifth and seventh years, who had their OWLS and NEWTS respectively, but Anika found herself drowning in revision and preparation for the exams, which she desperately wanted to pass. 

Deep down she knew that if she didn't do well Mr Burke would use it as a reason to pull her out of Hogwarts and homeschool her and she really did not want to be homeschooled. Mary, Marlene, Lily and Anika worked in the library to learn the Transfiguration alphabet and practised making sparks with their wand for Defence Against the Dark Arts.

 Their brains were all becoming fried, but they made it out of exam week in one piece. Anika thought that she did relatively well in most of her classes, but she had always been abysmal at Charms so wasn't very optimistic about her grade in that class.

"I'm sure you've done fine," Mary assured her as they headed down to sit by the lake after the final exam, "stop stressing about Charms, first-year exams don't matter."

"Every exam matters Mary," Lily scolded.

"Can we please stop talking about exams?" Marlene pleaded, "they're over, I don't have to think about exams for another year, let's find a new topic of conversation."

"What are those idiots doing?" Anika said, she had been looking off to one side, where a large group of students had gathered near the Whomping Willow. As she watched one boy darted forwards towards the tree in an attempt to reach the trunk before being forced to turn back by the swinging branches. There was a raucous laugh from the crowd as a girl attempting to reach the trunk was thrown back several meters by a branch that she didn't dodge in time. 

"Someone is going to get hurt!" Lily had followed Anika's gaze and was now watching the boy try again.

"Lighten up Lils." Marlene made a beeline towards the tree, walking away from the other three. She spoke back towards them over her shoulder, "who wants to see me give it a go?"

Mary shrugged and followed after Marlene. Lily and Anika glanced at each other before charging after their friends to try and prevent the girls getting hurt. 

They were unsuccessful in preventing the girls getting hurt and found themselves in the hospital wing just half an hour late as Marlene had Madam Pomfrey healing a large gash in the side of her face.

"You're lucky it missed your eye!" Madam Pomfrey scolded the girl, "what were you thinking messing around near that tree?"

"I was thinking that it would be great practice for when I join the Quidditch team in September and have to dodge bludgers all the time," said Marlene.

"You won't be joining any Quidditch teams if you loose an eye," Madam Pomfrey dabbed a foul-smelling liquid on Marlene's cheek.

"I reckon I could still play with one eye," Marlene argued.

Anika had drifted away as she often did and was staring out of a window beside a bed with curtains drawn around it. She was almost knocked to the floor as the curtains were pulled aside and Remus Lupin emerged, looking very tired.

"Remus!" Anika steadied herself, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I- uh..." Remus struggled, "I accidentally jinxed my leg off last night and Madam Pomfrey had to regrow it." He gestured at his left leg.

"Owch that must have been painful," said Anika, "I'm glad that you've got both legs now."

"So am I," Remus laughed half-heartedly, "I'm going to go and find James, Sirius and Peter. I'll see you around."

"See you," Anika waved at him as he hurried away.

"What was Remus doing here?" Lily asked as Anika rejoined her friends just as Madam Pomfrey was finishing up healing Marlene.

"He jinxed his leg off last night and has to regrow it," Anika told her.

"I hope he's okay," Lily glanced after the boy.

"Mr Lupin is perfectly well," said Madam Pomfrey, she turned to address Marlene again, "You may go now, but stay away from that tree!"

"I make no promises," said Marlene. The Matron fixed Marlene with a withering look, which made the girl flinch away. "Okay," Marlene caved, "I'll try and stay away from the tree."

Madam Pomfrey nodded approvingly and began to gather up her things before bustling off to her office. 

The four girls left the hospital wing together in good spirits, Marlene boasting about how close to touching the trunk of the Whomping Willow she got. They headed back out to the grounds and sat by the lake, taking off their shoes and socks and dipping their feet in the murky water.

It wasn't long before Mary pushed Marlene into the lake, however, which resulted in a water fight between the two girls, which Lily was quickly pulled into after she got caught in the crosshairs. 

Anika shielded her head laughing as Marlene showered her in water and was quickly into the lake landing on her hands and knees, and getting covered in the sandy mud of the lake floor. Anika gathered up a handful of this mud and lobbed it at Marlene.

"Ani- what the hell!" Marlene yelled, her blonde hair was now a dark brown as the mud had hit her square on the head. Marlene quickly gathered up her own handful and threw it straight back at Anika, who dodged it. 

Ten minutes later the four girls fell into sitting positions in the shallows of the lake, laughing their heads off, covered in mud and lake water.

"This is too precious!" Donna, their fellow roommate had been circulating with a camera ever since her parents gave her one for her birthday. She quickly snapped a picture of the four, which Anika was glad for, as this was one of those memories she didn't want to forget.