Charlotte sat at the Gryffindor table, her eyes fixed on Teddy. The First Years had yet to come in, and everyone was waiting patiently for them to arrive. No, patiently wasn't the right word. The younger students were fidgeting in their seats, mouths running away to their neighbors. The buzz of conversation filled the room, providing a gentle background noise for Charlotte's ears.

Her hazel eyes focused in on the Lupin boy, watching him smile at a young Second Year girl. Chloe Thomas-Finnigan blushed, giggling along to her gaggle of friends. Charlotte had to laugh at her reaction. Teddy was quite the heartbreaker among the Second Year girls. The previous year, Chloe's best friend, Sheri, had tried to spike his drink with a love potion. The love part of the potion had worked, but instead of seeing Sheri, the first person that Teddy had seen was himself in the mirror.

That had resulted in Charlotte having to deal with a narcissistic Teddy until the potion wore off. There had been lots of staring into a mirror and Teddy laughing whenever he changed one of his facial features. And lots and lots of eye-rolling on Charlotte's end. When Sheri had gone up to Teddy with a hopeful smile on her face and nothing had occurred, she had been heartbroken. After that, Teddy watched what he drank for a solid two months. Charlotte hadn't been able to hold back her laughter at him. Teddy had given her playful glares, and Charlotte has just laughed and laughed.

The sound of First-Year feet on the polished floor snapped Charlotte out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the eleven-year-olds coming in through the gilded double doors, multiple different expressions on their faces. There were those like James, who had been surrounded by magic all their lives, who looked excited but not surprised by the marvelous appearance of the Great Hall. It was easy to pick out the Muggleborns in the crowd, their faces glowing with wonder at the sight of something that they had once believed impossible.

Polly was among those amazed by the magic, but she also had a nervous look on her face. She wasn't the only one. Even among the First Years that Charlotte recognized, of which there were many, most of them were biting their lips or worrying with their hands as nervous habits.

Charlotte remembered her First Year sorting like it was yesterday. Memory filled her eyes as she thought about the fateful day that she had met Teddy on the train, neither of them knowing the friendship that it would spark. And what a friendship it was. Countless nights full of laughter littered her memory, each one making her smile. Getting in trouble together and finding ways to get out of it, they were practically attached at the hip. She didn't want to ruin that precious feeling of friendship with romantic feelings, for him to not feel the same thing for her.

If he didn't feel the same way, then their friendship would be in shambles. Charlotte predicted the awkward smiles in shared classes, the elephant in the room constantly looming over them. She didn't want that to happen, for that to sever their bond. So she stuffed her feelings down, layering them deep under a mantra of "best friends, best friends, best friends."

Teddy caught Charlotte's eye as McGonagall cleared her throat, the sound effectively silencing the chatter of the students. Teddy winked, and Charlotte had to clap a hand over her mouth to stifle the laugh that was about to come bursting out of her.

McGonagall started calling out names, kids going up to the Hat. Charlotte clapped and cheered whenever someone was sorted into Gryffindor, her voice rising among the crowd.
When "Parsons, Polly!" was shouted, Charlotte's attention sharpened. She gave a small thumbs up to the girl, smiling encouragingly.

Polly walked slowly up to the stool, sitting ramrod straight when the hat was placed on her head. Her lips moved slightly as she talked to the hat silently, mouthing the words she spoke in her head. Charlotte expected the hat to shout out a house within the first few seconds as it did with most, but that didn't happen. Polly sat on the stool with the Sorting Hat on her head for over five minutes.

Murmurs began to ripple through the crowd. "Hatstall!" was repeated over and over, with glances thrown to Professor McGonagall, who had been a Hatstall herself. The Headmistress didn't react, her face staying in its usual pinched lip expression.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat shouted out, startling everyone in the room. Charlotte jolted upright, but she maintained her smile. Becoming Polly over to her, she directed the younger girl to sit next to her.

"Congratulations on being a Gryffindor!" Charlotte whispered to Polly. "Now we have to beat Teddy at the House cup." She grinned at Polly, who was beginning to loosen up. Sitting on the stool for so long had shaken her, but the familiarity of Charlotte was helping her to relax.

Potter wasn't far behind Parsons in the alphabet, so James was called soon after Polly was. Almost as soon as the hat touched that signature raven-hued Potter hair, he was sorted into Gryffindor. Charlotte wasn't surprised, he was a Potter after all.

Polly rolled her eyes when James sat down beside her, a massive grin on his face. "Of course he has to be in the same house as me," she whispered back to Charlotte, who then giggled.

"You better get used to him then. You two are going to be stuck together for the next few years," Charlotte said. Polly groaned at that, but there wasn't any real dislike behind it.

"I don't see why Teddy couldn't tell me what the Sorting Ceremony was." James butted into their whispered conversation with his words. "It wasn't that hard!"

"It's part of the magic!" Charlotte said, her eyes finding their way back to Teddy. She smirked at him, gesturing her head towards Polly and James who were now engaged in an intense conversation.

The last student had been sorted and Professor McGonagall was standing up at the long table in the front of the Great Hall. She cleared her throat, the candles above her head parting to accommodate her pointy black hat. The lit cylinders of wax cast shadows across her sharp face, illuminating the everpresent tight pull of her lips.

"Students, welcome back to Hogwarts!" The words were said with more excitement than Charlotte predicted they would see out of the Headmistress for the rest of the year. "This will be a year full of learning, and I trust that you all will not get into too much trouble." McGonagall fixed James with a stare, looking directly at him as she spoke so her words couldn't be aimed at anyone other than him. "Now, you may eat!"

Food appeared on the tables, glistening and enticing everyone with delicious smells. Charlotte's nose could detect potatoes laden with butter and salt and beef dripping with sauce. Pilling food onto her plate, she surveyed the rest of the table to make sure that she wasn't missing anything good.

When she laid eyes on the black pudding, Charlotte crinkled her nose. She did not like that stuff. Teddy loved it though. It was one of his favorite things. Speaking of Teddy, She locked eyes with him again for what seemed like the thousandth time that night. Best friends didn't stare at each other longingly across the room, did they? Was that what she was doing? Polly could tell with only spending a few minutes with them, could everyone else tell? Was she that obvious?

Charlotte broke the eye contact, her cheeks flushing bright. She didn't look over at Teddy to see his reaction, feeling too embarrassed to even look at him. Instead, she took a sip of her pumpkin juice and raked a hand through her chocolate brown hair, praying that her cheeks would lose their rosy hue soon.

Charlotte was staring very intently at her food when she felt a small elbow dig into her side. She tilted her head to see Polly giving her a look. "What?" Charlotte asked the younger girl.

Polly didn't respond, only directing her gaze towards the Hufflepuff table. She wiggled her eyebrows, moving them up and down in what Charlotte managed to figure out was supposed to be suggestive.

"Oh, shut up." Charlotte laughed once her brain caught the meaning of Polly's attempted eyebrow waggling. "You're, like, eleven. I am so not getting love advice from an eleven-year-old."

"I'll have you know that I am very informed on the subject of love," Polly said with sass, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I read lots of romance novels."

"Are those appropriate?" Charlotte asked.

A wicked grin spread across Polly's face as she whispered, "No!"

Charlotte threw her head back and laughed. It was a deep belly laugh, the kind that shook your whole body. She kept laughing, not caring what others thought about her in that moment.

Across the room, Teddy Lupin heard her laugh and whipped his head around to watch her. He thought that she looked radiant, in her element. She was happy, and that was how he always wanted to see her. Preferably happy with him.

Author's Note
Hi everyone! I'm sorry about the long gap between updates. I am going to try my hardest to get this updated once every two weeks! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! If you have any comments, please leave them. I love getting feedback! Please stay inside if you can and stay safe!