The week at the McKinnons house was exactly what the girls needed for their summer break. Playing Quidditch all day long, and at night gathering by the lake and making a bonfire — with the help of Mrs. McKinnon's magic, of course.

      By the first of September, they were all excited to start their fourth year at Hogwarts. But no one was more excited than Marlene, who received another box of home-made pumpkin pies from Mrs. Potter at King's Cross station.

     "You guys go ahead. I'll be there after I say goodbye to my parents," Jenna told her friends, who left her side to find an empty compartment on the train.

     "Fourth year, huh?" Mrs. Potter smiled. "Excited?"

     "Definitely." Jenna nodded, hugging her mother.

     "And don't cause too much trouble." She said, tucking a piece of her daughter's new pink hair behind her ear.

     "Yes. I don't want to receive any letters indicating that you've been caught while causing the trouble," said Mr. Potter, making Jenna laugh.

     She hugged him as well, tightly. "Bye, Dad. I'll miss you."

     "I'll miss you, too." He smiled. "Anyway, where's that devil brother of yours? He was just here a minute ago. He's not planning on leaving without saying goodbye, is he? That's illegal."

"I'm sure he's somewhere aro — oh, there he is," said Mrs. Potter, spotting his son in the crowded station.

Jenna followed her gaze, seeing that James was standing next to Sirius — who surprisingly grew even taller during summer — as they were chatting up with a group of fifth year girls. The girls seemed to be swooning over them, one of them blushing, one playing with her hair, and one touching Sirius's arm shamelessly as she flirted with him. He certainly didn't seem to mind.

     "Disgusting," Jenna muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

      "Hmm, am I sensing a bit of jealousy?" Mrs. Potter grinned, raising a knowing brow at her.

     "What?" Jenna said defensively, frowning. "Why in Merlin's stinky pants would I ever be jealous of that boy? He can have the whole castle pining after him for all I care."

     "Okay, then. No need to get all defensive about it." Her mother chuckled. "You go ahead. If you want to wait for your brother, you'll be standing here all day."

"He's enjoying himself a little bit too much. I'd say three days, least," Mr. Potter joked.

Jenna laughed, hugging both of them one last time before boarding the train to find her friends. But she was walking down the train's crowded corridor that she spotted Remus, walking in the opposite direction. He smiled the moment she saw her.

"Jenna! Hello — oh, hi." Remus had raised his arm to shake her hand, but stopped in surprise and laughed when Jenna leaned in to hug him.

She laughed awkwardly. "Sorry — I thought you were going for a hug —"

"No, no — it's okay — my fault." He chuckled, leaning in to bring her into a hug. "Had a good time over the summer?"

"Oh, yeah. It was awesome!" Jenna nodded. "We stayed over at Marlene's summer house. Played Quidditch all day long. Lily wasn't too thrilled about it though."

"I could imagined." He laughed. "Honestly, we had to hear all about it from James all summer."

     "What do you mean?"

     "Oh, you know; writing letters to us everyday complaining about how you were spending your summer with Evans, his owls showing up at our windows at three a.m, his head appearing in our fireplace in the middle of lunch... just the normal James Potter stuff."

     "So he's not over that silly crush of his yet, is he." Jenna exhaled heavily, thinking out loud. "You know, I just thought it was little challenge he had going on last year. I had no idea he was still obsessed over it."

     "Obsessed doesn't even begin with it." Remus grinned knowingly, moving aside so a group of second year girls could pass through the train's corridor. "Honestly, last year I thought so too. But now thinking about it... I guess he actually likes her."

      "Well, he's got a weird way of showing it," said Jenna.

      "Weird way of what?" A voice came from behind, and when they turned around, they saw that it was James, walking toward them with Sirius right beside him.

     Jenna wanted to puke at the mere sight of him.

     Too bad he smells so good, she thought, but quickly shook her head to drive the thought away.

     "Hello, Miss Potter. Fancy seeing you here," said Sirius, smirking as he quickly moved his hand and pulled at the back of Jenna's hair. "The new color suits you, Jenny."

    "Ouch, you idiot! Don't touch me!" Jenna moved out of his reach, glaring at him with blazing fire in her eyes.

      "Yeah, the five-inches-rule still stands this year, mate," Janes said with a hint of playfulness in his tone, but Sirius knew he meant no joke.

     "What? Is it a crime to admire someone's hair now?" Sirius told James, grinning. "Doesn't shrink your big head anytime someone compliments your stupid hair."

      If anyone else had said that, James would've given them three seconds head-start before hexing their arses off. But it coming from Sirius, James only laughed at his joke.

      "No, it certainly doesn't," James said cockily, running a hand through his jet-black hair that his mother had recently cut slightly shorter that summer. "Witches love the groove."

     "Yeah... I'm going to get away from you before your head gets so big it explodes," said Jenna, grimacing in disgust.

     Sirius pouted mockingly. "Oh, come on, Jenny. Why do you always find the need to attack us with your words?"

     "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to use my broom instead next time," Jenna said sarcastically before sending a little smile at Remus and moving away to find her friends.

***

"What's up with Evans's hair, anyway?" James rolled his eyes as the four boys made their way into their old dorm room.

"Oh, my beautiful beautiful bed!" Peter sighed happily as he ran toward it and hopped on top of it.

"What do you mean, James?" Remus asked as he moved toward the window, glancing up at the sky.

It was an old habit of his, looking for the moon as soon as the night emerged. But there was no sign of the moon that night, hidden beneath raging clouds of grey. The rain fell mercilessly, hitting against the windows' glasses as thunder roared. He still had a week left to his next transformation, and he had already begun looking paler and worn-out than usual.

"I mean, her hair— it's just — soft. You know? Too soft. It's annoying," said James, trying to sound irritated.

"Cut it out, Potter. We all know you have a thing for Evans," Sirius said distractedly, opening his trunk which had already been magically brought up to their room by Hogwarts' house elves. He immediately began searching for something at the bottom of the trunk.

"I don't have a thing for Evans," James said sternly. "I just don't get why she didn't accept my offer of going out with me last year. I literally asked her four times. I'm a catch. She should feel lucky that I have a thing for her."

"So you do have thing for her," Remus said calmly, proving the point James was trying to deny.

"That's not the point, Lupin!" James huffed, shaking his head as though no one could possibly understand his dilemma. He turned his eyes on Sirius, who was still searching for something in his trunk. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking for — ah, here they are!" Sirius said with a triumphant grin, standing to his feet with what looked like a few pieces of paper in his hands.

"What?" Peter asked curiously from where he stood from his bed, craning his head is to get a better look.

Without a single word of explanation, Sirius moved to his bed, got on top of the mattress with his shoes on.

"Urgh Sirius, don't be disgusting." Remus grimaced.

"Calm down, Lupin. There's this thing called magic. I'll clean it up afterward," said Sirius, moving toward the wall over his bed with his papers.

He then took his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at his papers to help him stick them to the wall.

Not a second later, James burst out in laughed, finding it hard to speak. "Merlin's — beard — this is — this is just —"

"This is fucking brilliant, is what it is," Sirius grinned, moving away from the wall with a satisfied glint in his eyes.

Peter's jaw dropped and Remus's eyes widened the moment they realized what they were.

Sirius had just hung posters of half-naked muggle women on the scarlet wallpapers of their dorm room.

"I've named them, too," Sirius said proudly. "Janette, Amy, Donna, and my sweetheart: Pamela.

"You're disgusting," said Remus, even though he was laughing along with James. Meanwhile Peter was still blushing, trying not to look but sneakily stealing glances at them anyway.

"Okay, okay, but all jokes aside," said James after a few minutes of joking around, wiping away his tears of laughter, "let's take things more seriously now."

"Yes, as all things should be about me," Sirius scoffed. James saluted him for sharing the same sense of humor as him.

"As I was saying, gentlemen," James cleared his throat, acting much sterner that the look on his face could easily resemble Professor McGonagall's, "I think it's time we get on with our masterplan. This year is finally the year when we become Animagi."