After a rushed lunch, I find myself in the corner table by the Potions books with Sirius, who is still staring blankly at the notes I gave him. The afternoon rays stream through the library, making the dust in the chilly air gleam almost as bright as his eyes.

He frowns at the parchment and taps his restless fingers on the wooden arm of his chair. I continue reading my copy of Advanced Potion Making in between stealing glances at his attempt to focus on the words I wrote.

"All of this is so damn simple. I'm great at this. How exactly do I to manage to flunk tests in this subject?" he whines as he grabs my book out of my grasp, hastily flipping to the chapter I got my notes from.

I cross my arms and look at him, amused by his rare outburst of desperation. "You might be smart, but sometimes you actually need to memorize a thing or two," I say, grinning.

"Ugh, bloody Potions," he mutters, still thumbing through the pages.

"Here, let me test you," I offer as I take my book and notes back.

"Sure," he utters indifferently.

"Okay, tell me about Golpalotts Third Law," I challenge.

"I don't need any of that, I can brew pretty good portions without it." He looks up to my reprimanding gaze, and, confused and annoyed, he taps his fingers faster. "Yeah, okay", he starts off unsure. "That's...the law about antidotes, yeah?"

"Gonna need more than that, mate," I say, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Merlin, um...Wait, okay, that's the law that states that to find an antidote for a potion – a blended potion – you shouldn't only find the individual antidotes... for each potion that was used in the concoction..." he starts slowly, waiting for approval.

I nod encouragingly, urging him on.

"And we must find the... the single ingredient which, when added to the blended antidotes, transforms them...into a combined whole...which will counteract the entire blended poison..." he trails off, frustrated.

"That's right," I beam at him, flipping to another page.

His eyes light up, but he tries to hide his surprise, combing his hand through his hair again.

I try to tear my gaze away from his every action, from every aspect of his utopian perfection as I ask him again, "Okay, how about Amortentia?"

He chuckles and flashes another beautiful smirk that targets my unprepared self. "The potion that makes people fall in love? I really don't need that," he dismisses, winking at me.

My heart skips a beat, and I can feel my shivering hands freeze. He's right, memorising definitions and laws may not be his strong suit, but making certain people reel in adoration for him is. I should know.

Disregarding my thoughts, I correct him, "It doesn't make you fall in love. It triggers in you unbearable infatuation or obsession. But no, not love."

Sirius rolls his eyes, his face falling. "What's the difference?"

"Infatuation is unreasoning desire. It's selfishly uncontrollable and usually short lived. It's basically just reckless commitment being caused by changes to brain chemistry triggered by physical attraction and conditional want,"I say, as if it was the simplest thing I could ever learn to fathom.

Curiosity grows in Sirius expression. "Wow, that was very... profound," he says with a confused smile. "And what exactly is love, genius?" he insists, the cockiness sparking back.

I look at him as I hear the question.

Love is inevitable. Love is unconditional and irresistible. It clings to you indefinitely and trying to get rid of it when you shouldn't is the quickest route to an unstable realm of emotion. It survives, if not conquers, hurdles overformidable conflicts. It is unyielding commitment and constant security. It endures all it should endure, even when it is unrequited.

It's the way I stay up every night to proofread his essays. The way Amortentia smells like his hair and the wooden planks of the Shrieking Shack from the full moon when I woke up to him holding my hand and telling me it was okay. The way I can find every color shimmer from his gray eyes. The way I have already been late in Arithmancy for 13 times this month alone because I walked him to Care Of Magical Creatures before heading to class. The way I sit behind him in class, to his diagonal right, because that's where you get the best view of his lip corner's mischievous little curl whenever he tries not to laugh. The way the first thing I think of when I am on the brink of turning during a full moon is, "I hope I don't hurt him".

"Moony, you there? I wasn't really serious about the question, don't hurt yourself," he chuckles.

His voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I look at him wearily and smile.

"You know, I give up, none of this makes sense to me," he says, standing up and gathering his books.

I look at him, not surprised by his characteristic impatience. "And what, just fail the practical tomorrow?"

Packing away his things, he laughs. "I'll read up on your notes later. Now come on, let's head up to the common room."

I stand up and nod, stuffing some of my notes into his bag. "No, wait, I've been meaning to borrow a copy of this book on Newt Scamander," I say, suddenly remembering.

Sirius narrows his eyes, "You're not even taking Care Of Magical Creatures anymore."

"Yeah, but you and James are, and I'll probably need some references when you guys start asking for help in a class I'm not in anymore," I remark, smirking and heading to the back rows of the library.

"Well, someone's prepared," I hear him say behind me, amusement in his voice.

I walk to the biographies section, facing a tall, dusty bookshelf. Running my fingers over the spines, I keep my sleepy eyes peeled for the book I need. A few other books catch my eye, like titles on Nicholas Flamel and the founders of Hogwarts, and I pull them off the shelves. Before I know it, I'm carrying a heavy stack of books in my right arm, barely balancing them, and still trying to locate the Newt Scamander book with my left.

Footsteps creeping behind me break the silence and make me jump, sending all the hardbound books to the floor.

I turn to see Sirius, entertained and confused, grinning at me.

"Sometimes I forget how dorky you can be," he states judgmentally as he crouched down to pick the books up.

I look at him, feeling helpless. "Thanks," I reply and he stands, effortlessly carrying the books in his well-toned arms.

"No prob –" he stops, taking a look at the titles I've picked out. "Merlin, Remus, you don't even need half of these, you know?"

"I like to read, okay," I say defensively.

"Which is why I don't know why I'm still surprised about how bloody smart you are," he says, walking away. "Come on, let's go and you can show me some of this rubbish in the common room, just in case it makes me all brainy too."

A big smile breaks out my face as I follow him.