"Nicole. Time to wake up." Lily said softly shaking my shoulder.

"Huh? How early do your classes start?" I groaned.

"It's only eight o clock. Breakfast starts in fifteen minutes." Lily frowned.

"We have breakfast at nine. It's bad for your health to wake up this early." I explained as if it would change anything. Nonetheless I got up obediently to change and get washed up. I went with a white t-shirt and black leggings underneath my robes.

"Can't we wear something else?" Kelsey complained.

"What are you talking about? This is so comfy!" I grinned.

"You're crazy." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"You try wearing Beauxbatons itchy uniform every single day for the whole year. See how you feel then." I retorted. I skipped down the stairs with Lily close behind. Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus were coming down the stairs at the same time. They all looked completely tired but tried not to show it. It was as if they were up all night.

"Hey guys!" James grinned. He instantly moved closer to Lily who rolled her eyes. Remus looked loads better than yesterday and edged a little closer to me.

"Sorry I was being a little rude yesterday. Let's start over. I'm Remus." He offered his hand.

"Nicole." I shook it and he smiled. My heart fluttered when our skin made contact and I internally hit myself. My parents would probably throw me out if I didn't marry someone they considered cute. Well actually seeing as they already did I wasn't looking for their blessing. But I also think wasn't exactly sure what Remus qualified as in their eyes.

"Are you excited for classes?" He asked.

"I'm so excited! The classes here are apparently so much better than any other magical school in the world." I said breathlessly.

"Hogwarts really is amazing. I hope we have classes together." Remus smiled. We arrived and poor Professor McGonagall looked overwhelmed with the amount of schedules she had to hand out. Lily and I instantly went over to help. It looked like they were all sorted out per year.

"Hey!" I yelled over the noise. The Gryffindors turned towards me. Make seven lines. One for each year. If you can, sort yourselves alphabetically by last name. It will go a lot quicker that way." Everybody shuffled to their places and Professor McGonagall looked at me gratefully. I nodded and went to my spot in line. Remus was standing right behind me since my last name was Levante and his was Lupin.

"Nicely handled." He grinned.

"Thanks!" I looked towards the front of the line. "Looks like Sirius is trying to flirt with Kelsey." I laughed.

"Oh you have no idea. He's liked her ever since fourth year. But his obsession with her is nothing compared to James with Lily." Remus shook his head at them.

"What about you?" I asked. He turned red.

"There's really nobody for me." He muttered.

"What are you talking about? You're really likable you know."

"No. I'm not." He turned away downcast.

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"Just drop it." He said sharply.

"Okay fine. Geez." I was a little hurt by his response and looked forward again. The little friendship we had built on the way here seemed to be torn to pieces. Lily had her schedule in her hand and came over to us.

"I want to see what classes we have together." She did excitedly. "What's with the gloomy faces?" She frowned.

"It's nothing." Remus said quickly. I received my schedule and quickly compared it to Lily's. We had all but two classes together.

"Yay!" We squealed. James, Sirius, Lily, and I all shared three classes together.

"Let's see yours." Lily said holding out her hand expectantly to Remus. He put the paper in her hands and she immediately compared them to hers. "No way." She muttered. "Give me yours." She demanded. I gave mine over and she compared it with Remus'.

"What do we have together?" I asked.

"Everything." She finally said and looked up dumbfounded.

"A match made in heaven." Sirius grinned.

"Moony and Nicole sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-" James immediately stopped at the look on Lily's face. "Sorry." He apologized. I blushed and an embarrassed Remus buried his face into a book. We ate breakfast and headed off to our first class. It was potions and I had it with Remus and Lily.

"You're going to love Professor Slughorn!" Lily said excitedly. "Right Remus?"

"Oh yeah. Great." Remus said absentmindedly. I saw him sneaking peeks at me out of the corner of my eye but every time I looked at him, he avoided my gaze.

"We're here." Lily announced. We opened the door and stood in the classroom with everyone else who seemed to be seventh year's.

"Hello hello!" Came a Professors booming voice. I recognized him from the teachers tables. He looked really kind and his hair was starting to gray. "For now your partners will be by alphabetical order last name. Hannah and Amber, Lily and Esther..." I tuned out until he got to my name. "Nicole and Remus..." my heart sunk. How was I supposed to work with someone who didn't even like me? Guess we'll have to change that. We took our seats.

"Hi." I said brightly turning to him.

"Hello." He frowned as he read his book.

"What's your problem with me?" I whispered angrily as I snatched his book away.

"Hey! I don't have a problem with you." He muttered.

"Well then why do you not talk to me and keep brushing me off?"

"It's not for the reason you think. Now can I please have my book back?" He asked. I let out a huge sigh and tossed it at him. Remus winced as it hit his arm.

"What's wrong?" It shouldn't have hurt that much unless there was already a previous injury. He struggled as I rolled up his sleeve and gasped. There were different sorts of bites and scratches on his arm.

"Forget about it." He said hastily rolling down his sleeve. I was about to say something else but Slughorn had started.

"Welcome to advanced potions year seven, with the exception of our four six years. Today we will be brewing love potions. Now be very wary. A love potion is one of the most powerful in our world. The group who brew it the most successfully will receive a chocolate bar each." Remus perked up at that. "Let the brewing commence." Slughorn grinned.

"I'll get the ingredients you start getting the bowls and stuff we need." Remus instructed. I looked at my book and pulled out two bowls, a crusher, and something to stir the potion.

Remus came back with a load of stuff and we began. He worked silently and I became distracted thinking about how he could've possibly gotten all of those scars.

"No! Not that yet!" Remus blocked my hand from putting the stuff I was mixing into the cauldron.

"Huh? Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I thought you already added the peacock feather." I apologized. We successfully finished and stood back appreciating our work.

"I think it was pretty successful don't you?" Remus grinned.

"Yeah." I nodded. Interested since I've never made a love potion I sniffed it. I smelled lilacs, the delicious smell of the great hall, and one more unfamiliar one. As Remus leaned over to smell it himself I had to prevent myself from gasping. It was his scent.