Hogwarts was bathed in sun, which was scorching down on everything in its path creating a pleasant day, on a late May afternoon. Birds twittered around searching for food for their young, the thudding of centaurs' hooves were heard as they revelled in the warmth of the day by taking a run and one could hear splashes from the Great Lake as the Giant Squid reached its tentacles towards the sun. The grounds were peaceful for the first time in a long time and one could almost forget that the country was currently gripped in a terrifying war with Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Normalcy was such that the entire school was under a sleepy spell as they attended classes trying not to fall asleep in the blissful warmth such as in the case of the fifth year History of Magic class. Lily Evans and her best friend Severus Snape were diligently taking notes and hanging onto every drab fact that professor Binns droned on about not quite caring about whether or not his students were listening and more focussed on performing his lecture. In the second row behind Lily and Severus sat four boys; Peter Pettigrew was passed out at the end while Remus Lupin was taking notes just as diligently as the two in front, Sirius Black was playing a game of hangman and speaking with James Potter who randomly scribbled on a spare piece of parchment occasionally glancing at Lily.
"Hey James," Sirius spouted as they started a game of noughts and crosses after running out of difficult words. "Are you looking forward to beating Slytherin in our Quidditch final?"
"Oh, yeah," James perked up at the conversation. "Are you looking forward to your brother's expression when we destroy them?"
"Yeah," Sirius smiled as his eyes glinted at the idea. "I even got a muggle camera to capture the image of his stupid face forever."
"Great idea, make me a copy will you?" James scribbled something on his parchment as his face screwed in concentration.
"Yeah, and we can frame all of the copies for later use," Sirius leant back in his seat lifting two of the legs off the ground.
"Hey Evans," James hissed as he came to a decision leaning to the front row.
"What Potter?" Lily hissed back as Severus glanced, worried, in her direction.
"If I win the Quidditch final will you go out with me?" James confidently asked and Lily rolled her eyes.
"No Potter!" she snapped. "Now stop distracting me, our O. are in three weeks time."
"She'll come round I know it," James said returning to Sirius who had watched the exchange with sceptical eyes.
"Mate, I hate to break it to you, but she probably would prefer to go out with Snivellus than you," Sirius clapped down on James' shoulder.
"Why won't she love me?" James asked after a heavy sigh.
"Maybe it's because you keep on distracting her," Remus artfully pointed out.
James was about to retort when the bell rang shrilly across the castle signalling the end of the lesson and their release from the stifling atmosphere of professor Binns' mind numbing lectures. Acting rather like marionettes the school rose as one and left their classes to the comforting warmth outside for an afternoon of pretending as if the world was normal and just fine.