The next morning the Gryffindors woke up feeling nice and relaxed. Well most of them did anyway. . .

"I have never lost this much sleep" moaned Alice from her spot next to Kiaria, as she poured herself some orange juice.

"Me neither," said Frank from across the table. Just then Demi and Sirius appeared, fighting about something.

"- well I don't think it'll work, and if it does, you have to let me know!" she said, slamming her bag down next to Frank.

Sirius threw himself onto the bench next to her and said, "It's too dangerous."

"Oh, what a load of bull. I've been through worse than this," she said, helping herself to some toast off the platter.

"Yeah, but not like this," Sirius replied, going red in the face.

"Whatever," she responded.

Sirius looked over at her and was about to say something. He thought better of it, reached over, and grabbed a slice of toast of her plate. Demi eyed him, "you know that the toast platter is five inches to your right?"

"Yes love, I have noticed," he replied.

"So?"

"We're married, we can take each other's food," he explained slowly.

"Excuse me?' said a voice, and the pair looked up into the angry face of . . . . .

Lockhart.

"Hey, Gilderoy" said Demi, sweetly as possible.

"What did I just hear about you two being married?" he asked, glaring at Sirius.

"Oh, nothing. It's a little . . . inside joke" said Sirius, trying to make Lockhart relax.

"Why would you have an inside joke with my girlfriend?" asked Lockhart, looking Sirius straight in the eye.

"Well, it's just one of the perks of being friends with her, she's beautiful and funny. I can't help but to have an inside joke with her, can I?" Sirius challenged.

Demi looked somewhat shocked at the words that had just come out of Sirius' mouth. Did he just call me beautiful? She thought. Eh, well, it's probably like how he calls me 'love' all the time. It's just a thing. I shouldn't get overexcited. Besides he's gone out with several girls already. If he was interested, he would have just asked. She turned her focus back on the two boys who were both standing up, drawing out their wands. "C'mon Gilderoy, let's go. I think McGonagall's headed this way." Brushing by Sirius' shoulder, she grabbed Gilderoy's hand and the two made their way to the Ravenclaw table.

Sirius watched the two settle down, before turning around and settling down on the bench once more. He poured some more food and couldn't help to notice the ring on his finger from the night before. There is no way in hell I am ever taking this off, he though as he munched on his toast. Within the next ten minutes James, Remus, and Peter had come to the hall, eaten, and began making their way to Charms.

"Today we will be learning about the Carpe Retractum charm," said Professor Flitwick as he made his way around the class. "This charm is used to seize and pull objects towards the caster. It can only be used to pull objects within your direct line of sight towards you, which is probably the only con to this charm. The wand movement is almost whip like. And a tremendous amount of force must be exerted from the witch or wizard when casting this charm." He waited for the class to copy down the information before splitting them into pairs.

James and Remus ended up together. "So, how are you feeling?" asked James. The full moon was only three days away and Remus was beginning to look slightly greyish.

"I'm okay, just getting kind of tired, and my back aches" he replied, rubbing his eyes.

"Mate, backaches are a sign of old age," said James, cheekily. He turned and pointed his wand towards the cushion they were supposed to be summoning. "Carpe Retractum," he said. The cushion jerked forward slightly, before stopping completely. "You try."

Remus edged forward slightly and said, "Carpe Retractum," causing the pillow to fly towards him at an incredible speed. He caught it before it smacked him in the face and tossed it back to its original distance. Turning to James he said, "Your go."

"Showoff," James muttered, causing them both to burst into laughter.

On the other side of the class . . .

"Are you going to Hogsmeade, Sev?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the shrieking shack, it's the most haunted place in Britain," replied Severus. He was looking forward to the trip immensely. The prospect of getting away from Sirius and James was a blessing.

"I'm looking forward to going to Honeydukes, it's supposed to be amazing. Demi was telling me about it a few days ago," Lily replied. She was excited that Severus was sharing her enthusiasm for something besides a lesson.

"Yeah, they've got all those Sugar Quills, Cockroach Clusters, and Licorice wands, it's amazing. Have you heard about the Three Broomsticks?" he asked, focusing on the charm.

"No, what's that?" Lily asked, confused (for one in her life).

"Oh, it's . . . . . "

In the middle of the class. . .

"So, want to join James, Pete, Remus, and I?' asked Sirius, as he watched the pillow fly from the top of the desk and into Demi's hands.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I'm going with Lockhart," she said, actually sounding quite sincere about declining. "Hey, well I might meet you there when we go? You should join us."

"Well, atop the fact that I don't like being the third wheel, and I don't really like Lockhart, I have a date with someone," he said.

"Is it that blonde girl in Ravenclaw that you kissed yesterday?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, you know about that?" Sirius asked, startled.

"Yeah, I saw it. My eyes do work you know."

"Nope, not her," he said, laughing.

"Then who?" she asked, confused.

"Oh, Laura Patteridge, Hufflepuff" he replied.

"You mean the blond haired, blue eyed, daft as a rock Laura?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said slowly, "I thought her last name may have helped though?"

"Really? Her? Oh, come on Sirius, your good looking, get a girl that matches you," she said, facing him.

"I would but seeing as all those girls are taken," he began, looking at her.

"What about Alice or Kiaira?" Demi replied.

"Well, they're nice, but I only see them as friends," Sirius said.

"Lily?" she asked, "Oh, never mind, James would probably behead you if you asked her."

The two laughed as the bell rang, and packed up their things.

The week passed on and soon it was Saturday, the tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. After a huge fight between Gilderoy and Demi (which involved flying bat bogies), Demi was standing with Sirius, James, and Kiaria, all dressed in their Quidditch gear, shifting their brooms side to side.

"Nervous?" asked James, looking at the other three. They all nodded their heads, "oh come off it, we tried out last year, we know how the system works."

"Mate, Lily's watching from the stands," said Sirius, pointing over James' shoulder.

James promptly spun around and squinted into the stand. After a few moments he spotted the red-head girl and said, "Oi, Lily. LILY OVER HERE. HI HOW ARE YOU? NICE WEATHER, EH?" James heard laughter and looked back towards the other three who were rolling on the floor laughing. "Oh, shut it."

Ten minutes went by and soon the trials were about to commence. "Lockhart?" asked Kiaria. Demi turned and looked at her, shaking her head. The Gryffindor Captain this year, Kevin Schmit, went through the drills and delivered the usual, "the results will be posted on Monday" nonsense. The four Gryffindors made the trek back to the castle, and were met by the others who'd been in the stands.

Sunday night . . . .

"Did you go to Lockhart's tryout?" asked Lily casually, as she and Demi worked in the library.

"Mmhmm" sighed Demi, focusing on her essay.

"How'd you reckon he did?" she asked.

"Okay, I guess. Wasn't really paying much attention. This was true. She was sitting at the top of the stands with Lockhart's friends, focused on the relays. However, this proved slightly difficult as a few rows down were none other than Sirius and Laura.

"They were just sitting there. Snogging," Demi repeated for the fourth time.

"Yes, I get it" said Lily, regretting her decision to instigate the topic.

"Snogging" Demi repeated again.

"I know, he does that with all the girls he goes out with," explained Lily. "He even tried it on me once, and then Alice, and then Kiara."

"When did I die?" asked Demi. I don't get it. He asks out my best friends, but not me? Dos he hate me or something. I know he doesn't like Lockhart, and maybe that's why he doesn't like me anymore." Demi snapped out of her revere suddenly, "None of you fell for it though."

"Nope, he's a bit stupid."

"Hey, he's my brother's best mate," replied Demi.

"Whatever," said Lily laughing. "Anyway, did Kiaria tell you yet?"

"Tell me what?" asked Demi suspiciously.

"She and Arnold broke up," said Lily shortly.

"What? Why? They were so cute together" complained Demi.

"Yeah, I said the same thing when she told me. Apparently they do like each other, but they wanted to be friends, not a couple," said Lily, in a tone that suggested she may be hinting something.

"What is it you're trying to tell me?" asked Demi.

"Well no offence, but we -that is to say, the others and I -Sirius included, think that you and Lockhart don't really go well together," Lily spluttered.

"Yeah, well, I've been thinking along the same lines, but at the same time I like him, a lot."

"As long as you're happy," replied Lily, going back to her work.

"Yeah . . . ." muttered Demi, going back to her essay.

The results for the tryouts were in and the Gryffindors were pumped. Kevin had sauntered into the common room that night and posted the results up. He swiftly moved out of the way as a swarm of Gryffindors moved towards the board.

"We're in" said James, high fiving Sirius.

Kiaria and Demi pushed through the crowd and looked at the board. "None," they reply.

"Sorry love" said Sirius, wrapping Demi in a hug.

"Eh, I wasn't all that focused anyway. But Lockhart'll be happy." They watched her skulk through the common room and out of sight.