We walked back to the Gryffindor common room, taking the long way around the other end of the school and past the statue of Gregory the Smarmy.

Remus disappeared after Charms saying something about meds. Well, I guess if you're sick you still have to take pills the normal--er, Muggle way. I thought he was like diabetic or something; he stayed gone for three days. Or maybe it had been an asthma attack. Whatever.

Sirius clambored up to the guys' dorm right away telling us that his mind was frying up from all the learning. I rolled my eyes and asked if he was sure he had a mind. I heard a door slam in reply. We figured that he would fall asleep in a few seconds--but not before we sent James up to put some thing on him; a curse I think. Hey, I was new to the wizard world.

So, James, Peter, and I hung out on one of the couches. James finally convinced me to play a game of chess with him. And was I surprised when I found out that the pieces talked! I borrowed Remus's pieces (James brought them down), and they apparently thought I was cute. I flirted with James's bishops, too. A lot of fun, I'd say. Especially when I lost to James and Peter wanted to play him, but Remus's pieces kept telling him that I just needed practice. Finally, we convinced James's peices to let Peter play me with them.

And just between us, I think they liked Peter a lot better than James--he doesn't get ticked as easily as James does.

I beat Peter. It was so funny, though, because all my pieces that had been knocked off got up and danced around with James's pieces.

It was about then that Max showed up in the common room to do his Potions homework. Peter and James brushed him off saying that they finished in class. I groaned and told them I hadn't even been in class. James replied, saying that Professor Behrens would let me off, Head of Slytherin as he was, if I acted all girlish saying something about being sick.

"It's really disgusting," Peter added, "how he treats all the girls almost as good as he treats all the Slytherin."

I told him that in that case, I'll just tell him I cut class. Then I remembered that McGonagall would tell him that I had been sleeping.

James asked me if I had really been sleeping.

I asked him if he liked any of the girls in my dorm, telling him I didn't know any them.

He blushed and said that dinner would start soon. I linked arms with him and Peter and told James that he would have to introduce me to the other girls.

We left the common room and beat the rest of the crowd to the Great Hall, courtesy of some secret shortcuts James's father had told him about.