"You're Remus aren't you," she said brushing part of her hair back. "I'm Maria Jammas..."

"Yeah," I said gripping the book very tightly and stuttering over that one single word.

"You hang out with James, Sirius, and Peter don't you," she said smiling and started tapping on a book. I was so afraid that she would end up saying something like she liked Sirius or James, but she didn't.

"Yes," I said clearly.

"Why are you always gone during full moons?" Maria asked staring into my eyes.

"I'm not...I just walk around the school by myself and think about the next book I am going to read." I lied. Really, who in their right mind would make up such a stupid, unbelievable, crazy excuse like that? I crossed my fingers behind my back and hoped that she would believe it. It still flipped me out that she realized that I was always gone during the full moons.

"I do that sometimes to get away from some of my friends," said Maria shaking her head. "They can get exceptionally annoying sometimes. Alicia can go on and on about herself dawn till dusk, and I swear at times I hear her talking about herself in her sleep." That reminded me so much of James.

"Hmmm," I said taking a deep breath. "Yeah, one of my friends is like that too!"

Maria was silent for a couple of seconds and then said, "James..."

"Yeah," I said lowering my voice. "He has gone on about himself one day for two hours. It about gave me a headache...and I never hit people...maybe sometimes, but I swear I would have hit him if he went on!"

She laughed and then said, "I'll see you after while!"

"Okay," I said quietly

When she was at least a few meters away I slapped myself in the face, and walked back to Sirius, James, and Peter. They looked very interested in what we talked about, but I didn't tell them. It took a good ten minutes for us to be seated in the Great Hall.

After five more minutes of talking to Sirius, James, and Peter the new first years finally appeared in the Great Hall. They looked extremely nervous and they gawked at the candles that were magically floating in the air. This one boy kept on popping his knuckles, which drive me insane! It sounds like your breaking your own bones!

Dumbledore began with his usual speech about the new Dark Arts teacher, who by the way was, Professor Carib. And then he pointed out that Professor McGonagall was going to call out names and the first years were to come and sit down on the stole and they would be sorted into their new houses. When this one boy walked up to the stole...I feel so sorry for him...he fell smack on his face. I looked around at James because I thought he would be trying as hard as he could to keep the laughter locked inside him, but he didn't show any sign of laughing whatsoever. Peter was looking at his plate with a watering mouth. And Sirius...he was holding his breath and he looked like he was fixing to cry any second. His face was blood shot when McGonagall finally finished calling out the names and Dumbledore announced that the feast could begin. As soon as the food came into sight and some people were talking Sirius burst out laughing. I rolled my eyes and took a couple of things to eat. I really am not the biggest eater in the world, but one type of food that I could eat nonstop is chicken. I couldn't last a year without it!

"So when are you going to go for Lily again?" Sirius asked curiously. "No, no, no! I should be asking you how many times are you going to ask her out this year, Prongs?"

James gave a low growl and narrowed his eyes. I always stayed out things like that and never—well—almost never put my foot in other peoples business. Sirius was staring at James with a huge grin on his face. People started to slowly clear out of the great Hall and head for their Towers. I looked away for a second and saw Maria talking with some of her friends. I guess I stared for quite a long time because one of her friends pointed over to our table and she turned around. I quickly looked at James and started laughing.

"What?" Sirius and James asked in unison. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, I was thinking of what my mum said before we left," I said quickly and looked back over at the table she was sitting at. She was gone.

"Remus," I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked across at Sirius and he was wearing the biggest smile.

"M-Maria?" I stuttered and turned around.

Sirius looked like he was going to bust out laughing. He opened his mouth and acted like he was yawning and caught the laugh, and then looked at James with watering eyes.

"Forget about what I said about Hogsmeade, okay," she said glancing at Sirius and then back at me. "I'm need some work on Potions...do you think you could help me sometime?"

"Sure," I said glancing everywhere. Sirius looked like he was going to fall off the bench because he was trying not to laugh or say anything. She smiled and walked away with her friends.

"M-Maria," said Sirius looking up at the ceiling with tears in his eyes. "Sure, I'll help you with Potions! How about sometime during the weekend?" I threw a piece of food at him.