The next few weeks went by pretty uneventfully, except one quick and sneaky trip to Hogsmeade with Sirius leading the way through a secret passageway to Honeydukes.

The Ravenclaw girls continued to hang out with the Hufflepuff girls, so I did more with them, too. Despite the fact that I was sitting alone in History of Magic, it was nice.

Also, Sirius had continued to sit next to me in Arithmancy. The dreadful and boring lessons actually became pretty fun; he had managed to make my shyness disappear around him and he always managed to lift my mood. I'd even go as far as considering him a friend, same with Remus.

After finishing the Marauder's Map, the marauders and I hadn't done anything else together, so I'd only occasionally seen all of them together and only exchanged a few kind words with James and Peter, because I didn't really have contact with them.

But I sat next to Sirius in Arithmancy and had trusted him to go on this secret mission with me, and I often patrolled the corridors with Remus, which was really nice. I'd always thought of Remus as a shy person, but he was actually pretty sassy and definitely funny. Now I understood why he got along so well with James and Sirius.

It was the middle of February and Aleya's seventeenth birthday, which had been the reason for my quick and illegal trip to Hogsmeade. As it was a Saturday, we were able to meet Julia, Miriam and Beatrice early enough, in an empty classroom on the second floor.

Valerie, Lina and I had been in the kitchen earlier, where we had baked a blue and bronze cake, decorated with edible flowers and a huge seventeen. A seventeenth birthday was a huge deal after all, so we wanted the day to be special.

Once the classroom was decorated enough (a seventeen made out of balloons, confetti and nice tablecloths hiding the boring wooden desks), Aleya came in. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY," we shouted in unison and all ran forward to bring her into a group hug.

"Thank you all so much," Aleya smiled and looked around the room. "Oh my Merlin, you didn't have to!" She beamed when her gaze fell upon the cake. Her joy made us all smile, too.

"I say we eat the cake now and then we'll give you your presents, alright?" Julia suggested, and we all agreed, since none of us had had breakfast yet, because we'd been busy baking and decorating. Well, except Aleya.

Aleya cut the cake, gave us all slices, and then we ate it while telling stories and simply enjoying the time.

Beatrice, Miriam and Julia had all gotten a present together. It was a classical wizarding wrist watch that a witch or wizard would usually get from their parents on their seventeenth birthday. But Aleya was muggleborn, so her parents didn't know about that tradition, and she was really happy to have gotten the watch anyway.

Since Lina and Valerie insisted on giving their present last, I gave her my little basket full of presents first.

I had been horrified once I'd realised that there wouldn't be a Hogsmeade weekend before Aleya's birthday and I hadn't had a present yet. In Arithmancy on the same day, Sirius had noticed my stressed out behaviour and had asked what was troubling me. I had told him about my lack of presents for Aleya's birthday, and he had told me about a secret passageway to Hogsmeade. We'd met a day later, in front of the statue of a one-eyed witch, and visited Hogsmeade together. He had bought pranking utensils, and I had bought little items to fill a joke-present basket, such as anti-aging potions, Aleya's favorite sweets, funny slippers, a mug and juice for little children.

So it was safe to say that the little illegal Hogsmeade visit had been a success, and I'd enjoyed the time I'd spent with Sirius, despite my constant fear of getting caught (I was used to being a goody-two-shoes, okay!?). He was a nice person to spend time with.

Aleya hugged me as a thank you, and then Lina and Valerie gave her their present, wich was a simple envelope.

My mouth tasted bitter when I realised that they had a joined present. Why hadn't they asked me to join them, too?

Snap out of it, my inner voice scolded me. You're being petty and overdramatic!

I focused just in time to hear Aleya gasp. She jumped up and ran forward to hug Valerie and Lina.

"Your parents approved," Valerie mumbled into the hug. "You're free these few days."

"Thank you so much, this is amazing!"

"What is it?" Miriam asked the question I didn't dare to ask.

Lina answered, smiling. "We're going on a three day trip to France together, during the Easter holidays."

"This is so cool," Aleya repeated and squeezed her two friends again, laughing.

I forced the smile back onto my face. "Cool," I said, hoping I sounded believable.

It was an amazing idea. Holidays spent just with friends, who wouldn't want that? So I guess they didn't want me there with them.

I mentally slapped myself. Why was I being so dramatic!? I was overreacting!

Still, my throat tightened. I was really relieved once the party was over and we returned to the common room.

I wrote a letter to my mum. I know it was stupid, but this whole situation had just made me really sad, and I just had to tell my mum about it. I hoped that it would make me feel better when I got her response.

"Freya?"

My head snapped up. A little, brown skinned first year was standing next to my desk, fiddling with his hands.

To say that I was confused was an understatement.

When I was in the Ravenclaw common room, people that weren't my dorm mates, Jacob or team members never talked to me. Except for the rare occasion that they wanted something from me, which was what I assumed now, too. The boy was a first year after all, and I was his Prefect.

"Yes, what is it?"

"There's a boy outside of the common room. He wanted me to get you."

"Oh?"

Well, that was unexpected. Who would want to meet me, just like that? I didn't talk to a lot of boys, so that really limited the range of boys that could be standing out there. Remus? Sirius? But why would they do that? We only talked during class, or in Remus' case, Prefect meetings and patrols.

I smiled at the boy. "Okay, thank you."

He nodded and headed off. I quickly signed my letter, folded it and put it in my pocket.

Although I had expected Sirius to be the person that had wanted to meet me, I was still very surprised to see him there.

He looked pretty distressed and lost in thoughts, and I instantly tensed. "What's wrong?"

He looked up at me, only noticing me now. "I messed up, Freya. I really messed up, and now Remus, James and Peter won't talk to me."