Lily and I woke up at the same time the next morning. We decided to go down to breakfast straight away, seeing as the other girls in our dorm had already left.

Dressed in our robes, we made it halfway across the common room before I heard Sirius call out my name. I turned around, seeing him hop up and down on one foot as he tried to tie his shoelaces.

"Wait for a man, would you?" he asked.

Remus walked down the stairs and past Sirius. I grabbed onto Remus's arm and then onto Lily.

"I've got a man! Let's go," I urged Lily and Remus.

We hurried out of the common room laughing as we heard Sirius bark curse after curse at us. He eventually caught up to us, as well as James and Peter. We all walked to the Great Hall together and had breakfast, before we had to go to our subject selection. I went first, and McGonagall looked over my results.

"Yes, L/n, you are definitely able to continue Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts," McGonagall said.

She tapped a piece of parchment with her wand and my new timetable appeared on it. She handed it to me, and I waited for all of my friends before we headed off to our first class – double Potions.

"On a Monday morning?" Sirius complained. "They're giving us double Potions on a Monday morning?"

"Oh, don't cry," I sang. "You don't want anyone to see your blotchy face."

"I'd like to inform you, L/n, that I have a beautiful crying face," Sirius said.

I snorted and shook my head. We made our way to Potions class, where Professor Slughorn greeted us and led us into the classroom.

The Potions' dungeon always looked the same. Books stacked up along the far wall; the door that led to the supply cupboard; the desk at the front; and the tables all around the room.

We had to split up because the tables only sat three, so I sat with Remus and Sirius. We picked two tables next to each other, so that we could talk to each other.

"Now, now, class," Professor Slughorn said. We all went silent, waiting for him to begin talking. "Does anyone know what this is?"

I stood up to get a better look. Lily's hand shot up in the air as soon as she recognised it.

"Yes, Miss Evans?" Slughorn chuckled.

"That's Amortentia, sir," Lily said. "You can tell by the mother-of-pearl sheen, and the steam that rises in characteristic spirals."

"Excellent! Five points to Gryffindor!" Slughorn exclaimed. "Now, can anyone tell me what it can do?"

I raised my hand. I remembered looking at this with Lily when I needed help in Potions last year.

"Yes, Miss L/n?" Slughorn asked.

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world," I said. "Except, it doesn't create love, it creates infatuation – obsession. It smells unique to each person. For example, I smell (favourite/food), book pages, and – and..."

I stopped speaking and went red as I realised the final smell was Remus's cologne. Slughorn chuckled again and I wished I could have just melted into my seat.

Despite Sirius's complaining, Potions went by fast, and we had a thirty minute break until we had our next class, which was Transfiguration.

I sat next to Remus, James sitting next to Lily, and Sirius sitting next to Peter.

"Settle down," Professor McGonagall ordered.

She then proceeded to give us an explanation of what she expected from us in her N.E.W.T class. After that, our first task was to Vanish a paperclip. I was the first to do it after three attempts. Remus did it after five, and James did it after six. James began helping Lily, and I watched as half of the class focused their attention on Lily and James, one of which previously would have rather died than receive help from the other.

After the bell rang, we went to the Great Hall for lunch. We decided to have a picnic, so we grabbed a few sandwiches and drinks and made our way down to the lake. We were all walking down the lawn when James grabbed my elbow and pulled me back from the group.

"What's wrong, James?" I urged.

"Do you fancy Remus?" he asked.

I froze and my eyes widened. I needed to come up with a lie, and quick.

"Who's Remus?"

Not that, you idiot.

James just gave me a blunt stare.

"I was going to say that you can't lie to me, but that was just horrible," he said.

I groaned and dropped my head onto James's shoulder in defeat.

"Maybe," I sighed.

"Yeah... I'm gonna take that as a yes."

I groaned again and shoved him.

"How did you know?" I asked.

James just shrugged.

"I've known you since birth, N/n," James said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I fancy him," I admitted. "I – I mean, I thought he was cute the first day we met, and then... I think I realised I had a crush on him in third year."

James blinked, and then smiled.

"Well, let's start phase one of winning over Remus Lupin," he said.

"I – wait, I didn't agree to this!" I said, glancing at our friends who were almost at the lake now.

"Don't worry," James said. "I already have a plan."

"Oi! Prongs, Y/n! Do you guys have the cakes?" Sirius called from the lake.

"You bet your ass we do!" James yelled back. "And we're eating them all!"

Sirius jumped up from down at the lake and began running towards us. I shrieked and ran away from James, knowing he would be Sirius's first target. There was a loud thump and a muffled 'shit!' from behind me. I continued running, sacrificing James for my own safety.

I ran down to the lake and heard Sirius's footsteps behind me. I shrieked as I reached my friends and hid behind Remus. I placed my hands on his shoulders and peered over to see Sirius standing with his hands on his hips.

"It was James's fault," I said.

"We didn't even eat anything!" James yelled.

I watched as he walked down the lawn to us, his glasses askew and his hair messier than it usually was.

"You didn't need to tackle me to the floor," he grumbled.

"Aw, poor Potter," Lily said.

"Come on, Evans, you saw the tumble."

"Want me to kiss it better for you?"

My eyes widened. Sure, I knew Lily liked James, but this was outright flirting. James seemed taken aback before he smirked at her.

"You know what, Evans? I think I'd like that."

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams, Potter," she smirked.

James chuckled and sat down next to her. The rest of the group exchanged confused looks but then decided to just roll with it. I sat down next to Remus, and I saw James give me a not-so-subtle thumbs up. I was tempted to flip him off, but he was just trying to be nice. Maybe.

After eating all of our food, we made our way back up to the castle for our final lesson of the day – Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Our teacher – Professor Laufeyson – was actually pretty cool. We learnt about non-verbal spells, and he was good with his critiquing of the class, unlike our previous teacher, Professor Foster.

Overall, it was a great first day back.