James Potter woke up on December 31, the day of the ball, quite groggily. He walked, half-awake, down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"How are you, James?" asked Julia Vane, a girl in his year.

"Er…I'm good, thanks. You, Julia?" said James, distractedly reading the morning's Daily Prophet.

"Fantastic," she giggled, and walked away.

"Morning, Lils," he said as Lily sat at the table next to him.

"Morning, James," replied Lily, giving him a long kiss.

"Haven't we been through this before?" asked Sirius. "No lovey dovey crap at the table?" Emma glared at him. "Er…nevermind…lovey dovey stuff is good!"

James took a long drink from his goblet. "Did they change the brand of pumpkin juice, or something? Because this stuff tastes really strange…"

Lily looked at him concernedly. "Erm…no, James. Its not a different brand of pumpkin juice. Are you ok? Are you sure you don't have a cold, or something?"

"I'm fine…its just…it tastes really strange!"

Now the whole group was looking at James as if he was losing his mind.

"Er…right, James. Listen to this! Your brother is in the Daily Prophet, Padfoot!" Remus exclaimed. They all scanned the article:

A Heroic Boy

Yesterday, December 30, a young man, Regulus Black, who attends Durmstrang Academy, saved an elderly witch's life. "I saw a dark figure emerge from the alley," said Black, "and it was lunging at the lady. So I mustered up all my strength and courage and performed the expelliarmus charm on him, without saying a word. It was really quite easy, you know. That's just me, always saving people. I didn't really get to see what was attacking her, but it had the initials T.R. on its robes, and it had long, spindly fingers." No word yet from the ministry on who attacked Arabella Figg, the elderly woman. "I am just so lucky that young man was there to save the day," said Figg. "I don't know what I would have done if he weren't there…I'm…er…not that great at magic, you see." Regulus Black will receive a medal from the Ministry for his heroic act.

Sirius snorted. "Please. He was probably the dark hooded figure!"

"That is really strange…what do you really suppose that hooded thing was?" asked Remus curiously.

"It could have been anything," said Ella, coming up from behind Remus. "Maybe it was a dementor!"

"No, it couldn't have been a dementor…dementors do not label they're robes with their initials, do they? It had to be a witch or wizard…are there any famous wizards with the initials T.R.?" asked Lily, deep in thought.

"Not that I know of, Lily," said Sirius, glancing suspiciously at James, who was twitching and giggling madly, after taking a long drink from his goblet. "Er…Prongs? You alright?"

James just giggled madly and took another long drink from his goblet, completely emptying it.

"What do you reckons up with him?" Remus muttered to Sirius.

"I dunno…when did he start acting like this?"

"Right around after he drank from his goblet…"

"HEE HEE HEE! WHERE'S JULIA VANE? I have to tell her something!" asked James.

"Er…what do you need to tell Julia, James? I thought you were frightened of her, I mean, she chases after you all the time! She's obsessed with you!"

"What? I looooooove Julia Vane. Julia Vane is the prettiest girl in all the land…I need to tell her that."

Now Sirius was getting really concerned. Someone did something to his best friend. "No, you don't, mate. You love Lily. Lily Evans."

"Who is Lily Evans? Man, is Julia Vane looking HOT today! HI JULIA! JULIA! HEEEEY!" James waved frantically at Julia, who giggled and waved back. Lily kept looking from James to Julia, as if not entirely sure this was happening.

"Why is James acting like this?" Lily asked Remus.

"Love potion. Julia must have planted it in his goblet sometime this morning," Remus explained grimly.

"Ugh! JULIA VANE! I am going to knock some sense into her, right this instant!" Lily made her way over to Julia, but Emma stopped her.

"Lily. Don't. James doesn't know what he is talking about! He still loves you! This is only temporary!" Lily sighed, and sat down again next to James.

"Do you think I should write a poem for Julia?" asked James. "It could go like, 'Julia. I love you, girl. You look so hot, especially that long blonde curl.'"

"Er…James? Come on, lets get you to Slughorn. Maybe he will know what to do," said Sirius, staring at his best friend, dumbfounded.

"Can we stop and talk to Julia first? Julia. What a great name. She is really pretty you know…"

"Yes, we know she is, James. Come on." Remus and Sirius grabbed James and led him out of the Great Hall.

"HEY! JULIA'S MINE, YOU KNOW! You can't steal her from me!"

"Trust me. We're not going to," said Sirius, rolling his eyes, and glaring at Julia Vane for what she had done to his best friend.