Chapter one.

I wasn't sure how I felt about being back in the cold dungeons that professor Slughorn so happily called his classroom. The air was stale downhere, making it harder to breath through your nose. I had always felt a bit uneasy down here. Maybe it had to do with the fact that potions wasn't exactly my favorite subject, and it had in my six years at Hogwarts never been. I let go of the pile of books I had been holding in my arms and dropped them on the table in front of me with a rather loud thud.

"Easy there Alissa, Slughorn already knows what you think of this period. Don't confirm his suspicions even more."

Lara frowned at me with a crooked smile on her dark lips. I rolled my eyes at her and sat down. I doubted that the seventh year in potions class would be any different from the years before, but Lara was right, it was stupid of me to show off my dislike before the first class of the semester had even started. So I decided to smile my way through the whole period, I was a Ravenclaw after all, wasn't learning supposed to be my biggest aspiration? Even if it meant to learn how to make wit-sharpening potion. As if I needed a potion to think more clearly.

"Welcome back students. I hope your summer holiday was pleasant and that you're all more eager than ever to learn more about the art of potion making."

"As if." I whispered in Lara's ear and she softly kicked my shin in response. I knew that meant something along the lines of 'shut up'.

Slughorn continued his speech as I slowly drifted off in my own thoughts. This summer had rushed by way too fast. Maybe it had to do with the fact that we were no longer children, but everything had flashed by in a heartbeat, and now we were back at school for the last time. I would be lying if I said that thought didn't scare me a bit. I looked to my side at Lara, her hair was longer than before the summer and the circles under her eyes were definitely darker than they were the last time I had seen her. We were all starting to grow up, and it was noticeable all around the classroom.

I let my gaze wander to the right of the room, to where Gryffindor's own pride with a capital P sat. To my surprise, she wasn't sitting too far away from the stud that was always following her around. Had the summer warmth melted even Lily Evans heart? Because if there was anything different I had noticed, the minute we got on the Hogwarts express yesterday morning, it was the cloud of hormones and sexual desire that surrounded almost every student over the age of fifteen. I couldn't blame them, I was indeed one of them.

While I was on the subject of sexual desire and hormones, I laid eyes on the, in my opinion, way too famous heartthrob club of the school, the marauders. To my surprise, they sat down silent next to each other, with their uniforms and ties neatly fixed. That surely didn't happen often. Even us Ravenclaws knew that. What amused me the most was how extremely uncomfortable James Potter's sidekick Mr. Black looked in that properly tied tie. He sat down leaning against the wall beside him with a rather pettish expression on his face. Oh, it must have been torture for him, to appear in class with proper clothing for once.

Even the gang of Slytherins seemed to have changed over the summer. They had gotten even more creepy and, if possible, more sinister. My eyes fell on the light blond girl sitting next to evil looking Emma Vanity, and let out a heavy sigh. That group was nothing but pure trouble, or should I say evil. It didn't really matter, did it? As long as they were still bound to their education at Hogwarts. It freaked me out a little, though, what would happen to them all after this school year ended. Deep down I already knew, but I secretly wished it would turn out differently. I quickly looked away, I wouldn't like being caught staring at them.

Slughorn was still going on and on about the holidays and what we were to expect of this year's potions classes. I was not amused.

"Hey, Alissa." Lara stomped me in the side, "Get up."

I looked at her in confusion. What had I missed?

"What? Why?" She rolled her eyes at me.

"Such a Ravenclaw you are, I'm tempted to visit Dumbledore to have a chat with that sorting hat of his. Something must have gone awfully wrong when it sorted you."

"Oh, shut it you." I got up from the extremely uncomfortable stool. "What do you want me to get?"

"Roots of ginger and some armadillo bile."

"Got it."

I rushed to the front of the classroom where Slughorn had laid out all the ingredients we would need to brew today's potion. I was scanning the table for ginger roots and armadillo bile when I was forthright interrupted by a firm hand on my shoulder. I turned to face the interrupter and was, to my surprise, staring into two intense grey colored eyes.

"Yes, Black?" I frowned. Sirius Black and myself didn't have much experience talking to one another, and we were definitely not on first name basis. He still had his hand on my shoulder when he started talking in a low tone of voice.

"Oh hello, Fione. Good summer break I assume?" he smiled quickly. "I was just wondering…"

Just spill, I had a potion to prepare.

"Go on?" I raised an eyebrow. I could feel Lara's eyes burning holes into my back.

"Doesn't your friend Beth take this class?"

Of course this was about Beth. I felt tempted to laugh him straight in that handsome face of his, but I didn't.

Did I just call him handsome? Darn it, I had no intention in doing that.

"I will have to disappoint you, she's not taking potions this semester."

He frowned and bit his lower lip.

Come on Alissa, don't look at that, I scolded myself. He enjoys it way too much. And that he did, the months away from school had done him good, and there was no doubt that he knew about it.

"Can you take a massage then?" He looked at me with big puppy eyes. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. I knew Beth would explode if I told her what had just happened, but I wasn't sure I wanted her to know. You see, Sirius Black wasn't famous as the heartthrob of the school for nothing. He was especially known for his inability to stick to one love subject at a time. If it was possible I would like to spare her the trouble.

"If you want to talk to Beth, just do it yourself." I turned around before mumbling "Like the Gryffindor you are" under my breath.

"What was that, Fione? A gibe? I'll be damned. I'll take that as a challenge." he said before grabbing hold of a ginger root laying on the table. His quick movement made the scent of his cologne hit me straight in the face. It smelled like forest dew, the morning after a big downpour, mixed with a bonfire. Or, was it even his cologne? I shook the smell of. I was not one of those girls with a weak spot for handsome men who smelled like heaven, I just wasn't.

"You go ahead and do that." I said and turned around to get back to my seat next to Lara, who looked my way with wide eyes. I was eager to get away from Black as fast as possible and didn't even notice the person standing in my way. I crashed into her, full speed and we both dropped the ingredients we were holding right to the floor.

"Holy Merlin, I'm so sorry." I got down to start picking up the ingredients we had spread around us, without even looking at the poor girl I had just attacked.

"Don't bother talking to me, scum. Or helping me for that matter." she hissed.

I looked up on the girl in front of me and I found myself staring into the eyes that were identical to mine. Apart from a red scar that crossed her left eye and split her black eyebrow in two. I swallowed and quickly gathered my ingredients before standing up straight again.

"Always a pleasure, sis."

"Don't sweat it." she said with pursed lips before giving my shoulder a hard shove as she squeezed past me to get to her seat next to Emma Vanity, the Slytherin head girl.

Bloody bastards.