The Hogsmeade weekend that came the day after was a nice change.

I had time to spend with my friends and distract myself from my feelings for Sirius, and the confusion for what had happened on the full moon.

Because one thing was for sure; I wouldn't ask them. Neither Remus, nor Sirius.

"Let's go to Honeydukes first, okay?" I asked the girls besides me excitedly as we were walking down the path to the village. The day was cloudy, though it didn't rain, and I really liked that weather, so that was one of the reasons for me being so cheery.

"Oh Merlin, yes," Lina agreed happily. "I can't wait to stock up my storage of their chewing gum."

And I wanted to fill up my cookies. I'd been stress-eating a lot these past few days.

We were just about to enter the sweets shop, when Jacob joined us, smiling discreetly.

I was confused about what he wanted from us when he took Aleya's hand and I barely managed to keep myself from gawking at them in shock. When had that happened!?

Jacob whispered something in her ear and Aleya's smile widened. She turned to us. "I'm sorry, would it bother you if I joined Jacob today?"

Valerie shrugged, smiling. "No, not at all. You two go enjoy your day."

It took almost all of my strength to not wrinkle my forehead in confusion. Had they all known about Aleya being Jacob's girlfriend? And why did they act like I had already known about it? I certainly hadn't!

I was a little sad that Aleya wouldn't be with the rest of us throughout the day, but I smiled at her anyway, covering up my confusion and surprise as well. I just waved goodbye and continued the day with Valerie and Lina.

After all of our cravings had been dealt with at Honeydukes, we decided to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks.

I sat facing the door, next to Valerie, so when we were chattering, I noticed the marauders entering the pub.

My heart rate sped up when my eyes fell on Sirius, and I caught myself grinning.

Valerie followed my gaze and nudged my ribs, effectively making me look at her, startled. "What?"

She was smirking. "Nothing. I just thought I'd make you aware of your daydreaming."

Valerie wiggled her eyebrows and nodded towards Sirius, which made Lina turn around on her chair as well. And it wasn't really discreet either. "Oooh," she said and turned to us again. "I see. It's Freya's crush."

My heart dropped and I prayed to Merlin and every God I knew that I didn't blush. "No!" I snapped, acting surprised that they would think that. Aside from controlling blushes, I actually was a really good actress (from years of practice when I was around my father), so I hoped that I'd manage to fool them. They just couldn't know. "He's not," I clarified, shaking my head confusedly.

Actually, it wasn't a lie. Sirius wasn't just a crush anymore, so I felt pretty comfortable and smug in denying the crush part.

I didn't see Valerie's face, but Lina raised her eyebrows. "Okay. If you say so."

Hoping that they would drop the topic, I lowered my gaze to my cup of hot chocolate. I had to drink as much of it as I could, before summer arrived and it would be too hot for hot chocolate.

"So, Freya," Lina started another conversation. "Are you nervous about the final Quidditch match?"

My eyes widened in fear. "Duh!"

How could she have expected anything else?! I never managed to eat whenever I thought about the upcoming match (because of nerves), and that was really saying something.

We were so close to winning the Quidditch cup, and I was really scared to lose it again. "I don't know how I'm supposed to survive this week."

Valerie patted my shoulder in a comforting manner. "You'll manage. You're all great, and leading anyway."

Then she shook her head worriedly. "I'm more concerned about the finals this year. Although I've been studying, nothing seems to stay in my head!"

Great, this lunch talk really managed to raise my anxiety levels. That reminded me that I still had to start studying.... Crap.

Why did I never start learning in time!? I really had to learn how to sit tight and study my bum off before our NEWTs next year, or I'd never get the score I expected from me.

It sucked to be a procrastinator and an overachiever at the same time.

I should defenitely start studying. Note to self.

"Tell me about it," Lina sighed. "I can't remember anything."

Valerie and I exchanged a sceptical look.

Sure. Because Lina was such a bad student.

"I can see your faces, you know?" Lina waved her hand between our faces, looking a little indignant, but still grinning.

Valerie laughed. "Sorry, Lina, but really. You should have more trust in yourself!"

Lina gave Valerie a grateful smile. "Thanks, Val."

With that, I kind of dozed off again, my gaze flying back and forth between my hot chocolate and Sirius, who was sitting with his back toward me, a few tables in front of us.

And I think that the grin reappeared on my face.

~~~~~

As we were sitting in our dormitory, listening to Aleya talking about her date, I realised that I had had the Marauder's map for quite some time, now. Because I didn't want to make them suspicious or let them regret giving it to me, I decided to bring it back.

I didn't mind walking through the castle to get to the Gryffindor tower, since I was in happy anticipation to meet Sirius again. We hadn't exchanged a word today, since we hadn't had classes and went to Hogsmeade seperately, and I didn't want to wait for our Astronomy lesson either.

With my heart fluttering excitedly, I giddily skipped through the hallways, earning a few weird glances from the pictures - but for what seemed to be the first time ever, I didn't care. Let them stare, right?

I only slowed down when I reached the picture of the Fat Lady, who threw a sceptic look at me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Erm," I replied, a little caught off guard by her attitude. "I wanted to return something to a friend."

The Fat Lady's eyebrows rose. "That couldn't wait until class?"

"No," I simply answered.

"And how exactly are you planning to reach your friend?"

Erm... Oops, I hadn't really thought about that. I had been too busy daydreaming.

But I couldn't believe my luck when three fourth years rounded a corner, walking towards their common room.

One of the boys frowned when he saw me.

I blushed. Why exactly had I thought that that was a good idea, again?

I swallowed down my embarrassment.

"Hi. I was wondering if you could get Sirius?"

The boys exchanged confused looks. "I suppose," the one all to the left said, giving me one last curious look.

Then he bent forward and whispered something to the Fat Lady.

She nodded, then there was a click and the portrait swung open.

As the Gryffindors walked through the hole, I only caught a glimpse of red and gold banners and armchairs, before the portrait fell shut again, and I had to wait.

I didn't dare to look at the Fat Lady and bobbed my foot up and down, until the portrait hole opened again.

This time, Sirius came out of it, flashing me a grin that made my heart skip its usual beat. "Wassup, Frey?"

"Hi," I grinned back. Then I took the Marauder's map out of my cloak's pocket. "I'm done with it, so I thought that I'd return it."

Sirius' followed my eyes. "Ahh, right. Did it help you?"

The intense look in his eyes almost made me forget the question.

Then I remembered that the map only made me have more questions. "Yes," I lied. "It was great."

Sirius grinned, taking the map out of my hand. "I'm glad it helped."

He cleared his throat. "About tonight; I checked the weather."

A bad feeling spread in my stomach and my smile faltered.

"It's going to rain and the sky is too cloudy, so it doesn't make sense to do our lesson."

I tried to hide my disappointment. "Oh, okay. I see."

Sirius nodded. "But since we didn't really spend much time together these past few weeks, I came up with an alternative."

My face lit up. I felt giddy again, thinking about how Sirius didn't want to go without our weekly meeting. "What's the plan?"

He winked playfully, making my heart skip a few beats again. Merlin, this boy was going to be the death of me if he kept doing that.

"That's a surprise."

I raised a questioning eyebrow. "A surprise?"

Sirius nodded happily. "All I will say is: Meet me in front of the kitchen at half past ten tomorrow morning, okay?"

Well, so much about studying. That would have to wait, then.

And I got amazing presents!!!! Camp half blood and Hogwarts merch 😎😏😍😍