When we had all finished eating breakfast, we remained sitting in our places, waiting for Professor McGonagall to begin the distribution of the timetables. It would take much longer than usual this year due to the fact that McGonagall would need to confirm that each of us had achieved the necessary grades on our O.W.L.s to be able to take each subject.

I kept repeating the subjects I was taking in whispers to myself. "Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmancy, Divination."

"What are you doing?" Remus asked, gesturing to me as I realized I had been muttering to myself.

"Repeating to myself the courses I'm taking next year, so I don't forget to mention any of them."

"I don't think you have to worry about that. I'm sure McGonagall's got it covered. She knows everything an Auror is required to take."

"I know, but I'm terrified that I'll forget to take something. DADA, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmancy, Divination. That was seven, wasn't it? One, two, three..." I began counting them off on my fingers. "Oh, yes, it was seven."

"You're actually continuing with Divination?" Sirius asked incredulously, like he had never heard such a thing. "Why?"

"I don't know, OK?" I snapped. "Why is everyone asking me that?"

"Calm down, I was just wondering... I never really got the impression you liked Divination," he noted.

"I kind of do. I've always been quite good at it... well, except palmistry. So I guess that means that none of you will be taking Divination with me?" I asked, looking expectantly at the four boys.

"Can't, I didn't pass," said James.

"Me neither," said Peter.

"Well, I passed, but that was by accident, so I'm not going to take my chances by taking the course at N.E.W.T. level," Sirius said, shrugging indifferently.

"Er... Remus?" I said tentatively, turning to him.

"Sorry, Bianca, looks like you're on your own," Remus told me, frowning. "There is no way I'm taking Divination again... It was my only 'Acceptable' result on my O.W.L.s! It practically ruined the whole thing. Divination is to me what History of Magic is to you."

"Ah, whatever," I said, shaking my head and trying not to get upset over my History of Magic grade all over again.

Meanwhile, McGonagall was busy arranging what classes Marlene was taking with her, and they were both speaking so loudly that everyone was able to hear. Everyone suddenly knew what classes Marlene had failed.

"Miss McKinnon, you failed your Transfiguration O.W.L., yet you still expect to be taking the class? I am terribly sorry, but I do not feel you would be able to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work... Your Potions grade is also not sufficient, however you may still continue on with Charms, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts..."

"Ooh, yeah, I don't need to take anything else, do I? Isn't taking three classes enough?" Marlene asked, flashing McGonagall a mischievous grin.

"Not if you'd like to get a good, well-paying job, McKinnon," the tall witch continued, peering at Marlene in annoyance. "I would suggest taking History of Magic, it seems like you haven't done too badly on it..."

After Marlene arranged what she would be taking, Lily next was cleared to continue with most of the subjects I was continuing with, with the exception of Arithmancy and Divination (she instead took History of Magic). Alice was next; then it was Peter.

"Ah, Mr Pettigrew," said McGonagall. "I have to say I was quite pleased with your 'Exceeds Expectations' result in Transfiguration. Am I correct to assume that you'll be taking the class?"

"Oh, yes, Professor," said Peter bashfully, his ears turning red.

"Yes, that was all my doing, Professor," James interrupted, swiftly stepping around Peter. "I let him copy off of my Transfiguration exam." There was every hint of a joke in his tone of voice, but Professor McGonagall was not amused.

"Potter, is it not possible for you to handle hearing praise if you are not the one receiving it?" she snapped.

"Ooh, yeah, Potter. Can you not handle it?" Sirius mocked, flicking his best friend in the ear.

"That's enough. I am arranging classes with Mr Pettigrew and other students are waiting," she tutted.

James and Sirius both backed away. Peter smirked victoriously.

"All right, Pettigrew. You are taking Transfiguration. Your Herbology and Potions grades, however, will not suffice. Nor will Divination and History of Magic..."

"OK..." said Peter, looking slightly overwhelmed. "What should I take?"

"I would definitely suggest taking Charms," McGonagall said patiently, tapping her finger against Peter's O.W.L. results, "as well as Defence Against the Dark Arts. You have done well enough in those two to be able to keep up with the coursework."

"OK," he repeated, nodding his head. "Can I take Muggle Studies, too?"

"Yes, that would be fine," McGonagall said. "I think you should take something else... perhaps another class that could broaden your horizons and open up new opportunities for a future career..."

"Astronomy!" Sirius blurted out.

"Mr Black, please let your friend decide for himself. Mr Pettigrew, what would you like to take?"

"Astronomy," Sirius said loudly in Peter's ear. "I'm taking it, too. Take it with me! C'mon, Pete, we'll get to learn all about me. Didn't you know Sirius is the brightest star in the sky? That's why I was named after it—because I'm a star."

"Black, let him decide for hims—"

"Astronomy!" said Peter, grinning widely.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows for a moment, taking a while to respond. Finally, she tore her gaze away from the two boys and said, "Astronomy it is."

Sirius was next.

"Clearly you'll be taking Astronomy," said McGonagall.

"My best subject, along with Defence," Sirius said proudly, "so obviously I'll take DADA, too."

"Yes," said McGonagall. "Potions?"

"Definitely," said Sirius, smirking. "And Transfiguration, of course."

Our professor sighed in defeat.

"What's wrong, Professor? Were you hoping to finally be rid of me?"

She didn't say anything; she only looked at him pointedly, as though the answer were obvious.

"Ah, come on, you love me, Minnie," Sirius said.

"Mr Black, if you call me that one more time, I will give you detention every day for the rest of your life."

"Well we wouldn't want that, now, would we?"

"No, we wouldn't."

"Then you'd have to see me every day of my life... You see? You really do love me! You want to see me so often!"

Professor McGonagall did not smile, though I saw her lips twitch for a second as though she were about to.

They continued to arrange their schedules, and McGonagall claimed to be disappointed that all four Marauders would be taking her class at N.E.W.T. level, even though everyone could tell that she secretly adored the four boys.

Finally, it was my turn.

"Yes, Miss Reynolds, your Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology and Charms marks are all up to par, and those are all requirements for becoming an Auror, so you must take those. I was not at all surprised with your 'Outstanding' result in Transfiguration," said McGonagall.

"Thank you Professor," I said. "I also wanted to continue with Arithmancy..."

McGonagall looked down at my O.W.L. results and said, in a rather rushed manner, "Yes, that would be very good. Is that all, then?"

"Not exactly," I said. "I would also like to continue with Divination."

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips for a moment, not caring to hide her dissatisfaction. "Reynolds, if you don't mind me asking, why?"

"See? I wasn't the only one to think that was weird!" Sirius shrieked next to me.

I whirled around to face the four Marauders, who were all waiting for me before we headed to our first class: Potions. "Sirius, shut it." I turned back to McGonagall, slightly annoyed with her; I didn't know why she hated Divination so much. "I like Divination, Professor, and, as you can see from my exam results, I actually did rather well in the class."

"All right, yes, you did... Divination... All right. Yes." She said it as if she was still unconvinced that Divination could be considered a real course. Perhaps she really hadn't done well in the class when she was in school, as Mum had said.

McGonagall gave me my timetable and the Marauders and I headed off. Remus, James, Sirius and I were going to the dungeons for Potions, our first class of sixth year. Peter walked with us most of the way.

"We've got so many free periods, it's amazing!" said Peter excitedly. "I already love sixth year!"

"That's because you're only taking five classes," said Remus. "Try taking seven."

"But we still get some free periods if we take seven, right?" I asked.

"Yes. It's on your schedule."

"Right," I said, looking down at the parchment with all the classes I was taking.

We took a detour to the dungeons; James and Sirius claimed they liked wandering around the school, trying to discover new secret passageways. Sometime during the walk, Peter departed, seeming sulky about the fact that he was the only one left outーthe only one who hadn't done well enough in Potions to take the class.

"Don't be sad, Petey," said Sirius. "Consider yourself lucky: you can do whatever you want right now; you've got your morning all freed up! You can go to sleep, or eat, or anything."

"Yeah, I guess," said Peter, slumping his shoulders. He pouted nonetheless.

"We'll meet you in the common room after Potions, then?" said Remus. "We've all got a free period next, where we would've had Care of Magical Creatures..."

"'Course," Peter replied. "Bye, guys."

"Bye," I said, waving.

"Bye, Wormtail," said James.

Once he was gone, Sirius asked, "What do you reckon he'll do without us?"

"Probably sulk because he misses us," James replied.

When we got to the Potions classroom, Slughorn was at the front of the room, standing in front of three large cauldrons and one smaller one. There were strange odours wafting through the air to the back of the classroom, and I was unable to tell whether the smell was pleasant or not; perhaps both.

The classroom wasn't as full as usual. I realized that the classes would now be a lot smaller since we were no longer required to take certain courses. Lily and Alice were already there, talking to Frank and a Ravenclaw boy. Snape, Avery and Mulciber were all sitting, eyeing the cauldrons at the front of the room and casting disgusted glances at everyone around them. There were also two Hufflepuff girls (including the one I used to sit next to in class when I had no friends), a Hufflepuff boy and three Ravenclaw girls.

Before the rest of the students could sit down, the stubby Potions Master began speaking. "Hello everyone!" Professor Slughorn began cheerfully, stroking his moustache. "I hope you've all had restful summers, because sixth year is going to be... well, interesting. Potions class at N.E.W.T. level will be a lot more difficult, though I trust that you'll all do quite well in this class—you are here for a reason, after all!

"Now, before you sit down, I would like you to gather around the front of the class—yes, that's it, right here—because I would like to show you what are in these cauldrons."

Everyone hesitantly gathered at the front of the classroom, stand is few paces behind the cauldrons.

"I have prepared these potions to show you all the type of potions you'll be able to complete after your N.E.W.T.s. You've most likely heard of them all before... Would anyone like to identify these potions?" Slughorn asked, looking out at all of us.

James raised his hand lazily.

"Potter?"

James stepped forward, running his hand through his hair. He sauntered over to the first cauldron, inspecting the substance inside it. He leaned forward and sniffed it; I suspected he was pausing for dramatic effect.

"Veritaserum," he noted. "It's a truth-telling potion. The drinker will be forced to tell the absolute truth about anything they are asked. Clearly, sniffing it was useless: it is odourless."

Slughorn nodded approvingly.

James moved on to the next cauldron. He lifted his glasses, which sat perched on his nose, and tilted them upwards to let them rest on top of his head. This time, when he leaned forward to smell the contents, he smiled and sighed, closing his eyes. A couple seconds later, he seemed to regain consciousness. His eyes shot open and a lazy smile lingered on his lips.

"Ah, lovely," he said, sighing in delight once again. "Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world. Ironically, it doesn't create actual love, but instead powerful infatuation or obsession with someone. It also smells differently to each person, according to what—and who—attracts them."

"Very good," said Slughorn.

"Do you smell me, Jamesie?" Sirius asked loudly.

James turned to look at his best friend, smirked and walked to the third cauldron. He sniffed it and grimaced at the foul smell.

"Polyjuice Potion," he said. "It can cause a person to turn into the physical form of another. All they need to do is drop in a piece of the person they're turning into—normally it's hair. Not that I know from personal experience..." At this, he sniggered and winked at Sirius.

James swaggered curiously to the last cauldron, which was the smallest. I stood on my tiptoes to try to get a glimpse of the type of substance that was inside. It looked like gold in liquid form.

"Hm," James hummed. "No way... Felix Felicis!" He beamed at Slughorn. "Also known as liquid luck, gives the drinker, well... luck."

"Yes, Mr Potter, that is exactly what it is," Slughorn said calmly. "Wonderfully explained, by the way. Ten points to Gryffindor—I could not have said any of that better myself, and I haven't got much to add."

James shrugged, feigning modesty, which didn't work in the slightest. He rejoined us, standing between Sirius and Remus. I noticed Snape glaring at him from across the room. I expected Lily to be doing the same, or perhaps to be rolling her eyes as she often did when James showed off, but I noticed that she had been determinedly avoiding even sparing a glance in James's direction since breakfast, after what I'd said to her about him.

"All of these potions are extremely difficult to brew," said Slughorn. "First is Veritaserum. As Mr Potter said, it is a truth-telling serum. It will force the drinker to answer any questions they are asked truthfully. It is colourless and odourless when brewed properly. This potion takes one lunar cycle to make—typically twenty-eight days.

"Amortentia is indeed the most powerful love potion in existence. It is characterized by its mother-of-pearl sheen and the steam, which rises in spirals. It is impossible to imitate actual love, so as every other love potion, it simply causes an extremely powerful infatuation with a person.

"As for Polyjuice Potion: it is a thick, mud-like substance that changes colour, taste and odour depending on the person you are turning into. It is only for human transformations and takes a month to brew.

"And, last but not least," said Slughorn, finally stepping over to the last and smallest cauldron, excitement overtaking him, "is Felix Felicis." The class perked up even more than they had when listening to the explanation on Amortentia. "Molten gold in colour, one sip of this potion will make all of your endeavours succeed... but only until the effects wear off. It will last exactly twelve hours. The problem is that it is terribly, terribly tricky to make and must stew for no less than six months before it is ready to be consumed."

The stubby man beamed out at all of us, seeing everyone's sudden interest in this potion.

"Now, before we continue with the rest of the class, I would like you all to come and carefully inspect each of these potions."

Everyone rushed forwards at once, either to smell the Felix Felicis or Amortentia. I was curious as to what Amortentia would smell like to me.

"Stebbins, please do not attempt to steal the Felix Felicis," Slughorn said at once very sternly, though his voice was nearly drowned out by the excited buzz of conversation.

"What a blithering idiot, trying to steal Felix Felicis in front of everyone," Sirius scoffed.

"I know, right?" I said, agreeing.

I was surprised that Sirius was thinking about following the rules, but my surprise didn't last long as he spoke again.

"Yeah, what he should've done was wait until after class, then drop a Dungbomb right outside the classroom so Slughorn would be forced to leave, then duplicate the contents so he doesn't notice any of it is gone and take half of it... amateur," he continued, sighing and shaking his head.

There was a line in front of the Amortentia, due to the fact that each person who smelled it would stand there for a few seconds, trying to remember their names and snap themselves out of the daze they were in. Nearly every person who smelled the love potion walked away blushing.

"Hey, mate, what'd you smell?" Remus asked James, nudging him and nodding his head towards the cauldron.

James only smiled crookedly and didn't respond. His ears were suddenly tinged pink.

Sirius stepped forward and moved closer to the cauldron carefully and hesitantly. He closed his eyes and smelled the wonderful fragrance, lingering for a few seconds as James had, and pulling away. The difference was, when he pulled away, I was surprised to see him blushing slightly, as everyone else had.

"What'd you smell, Padfoot?" James asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"How about we not ask each other what we smell, OK?" Sirius said immediately.

"But..."

"If I tell you, you have to tell me," Sirius told his best friend.

"Right. Never mind, then."

"That's OK, I'm pretty sure we can all guess," said Remus.

Sirius, Remus and I all looked at Lily, whose back was turned. She was inspecting the Polyjuice Potion. She sensed three pairs of eyes on her and turned to look at us, her eyes widening for a second. She blushed, her gaze flickering to James, and turned away.

James let out a sound somewhere in between a squeak and a groan while Remus, Sirius and I smirked at him.

Remus turned back to the cauldron of Amortentia. He leaned forward and inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the potion. He pulled away, smiling.

"What about you, Moony? What'd you smell?" James asked.

"I thought we said we wouldn't ask!" Remus said dramatically.

James rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I smelled chocolate and... something," said Remus.

I finally approached the cauldron nervously. I had no idea what I would smell, though apparently most people didn't. They often loved the things they took for granted the most.

I stood on my toes and leaned towards it, the delicious fragrance filling my nostrils. The first thing I smelled were new books. Then I could distinguish something else that smelled quite like Christmas, my favourite holiday, Butterbeer and fresh baked pumpkin pie. Every other scent was confusing, though I knew I had smelled the others somewhere before... As my mind wandered to Regulus, I realized that it might've been him...

I didn't realize how close my face had gotten to the potion until Remus yanked me back by my robes.

"Oooooh, Bianca's definitely in love," Sirius mocked sarcastically, raising his eyebrows. "Who do you smell?"

"I am not! Shut up, Sirius!" I yelped, smacking him on the arm. "For your information, I smell new books, Christmas, Butterbeer and pumpkin pie. That's it."

"How predictable," he said flatly.

A few minutes later, Slughorn ordered us to find our seats, as we'd be starting to brew a certain potion.

I began to walk towards the front of the room, but Remus grabbed my arm and said with a smirk, "Where are you going? We sit at the back of the class."

"But I hate the back of the class!" I complained. "I prefer either the front or the middle... the back is for delinquents."

"That's very offensive, Bianca," James scoffed before heading to the very last desk and plopping down next to Sirius.

"Fine, then don't sit with us," Remus said simply, walking off to sit at the desk in front of James, putting his feet up on the empty seat next to him.

I looked from the front of the room to the back several times, then angrily grunted, "Butーbutーnoーugh fine!" and trotting to the back, where Remus was sitting. He put his feet down to allow me to sit in the empty seat.

"Guess you're a delinquent now, Bianca," said James, raising his eyebrows, pursing his lips and shrugging.

Before I could respond, Slughorn began speaking again.

"All right, everyone, we will begin! Please take out your scales, potion kits and your copies of Advanced Potion-Making." There was the rustle of movement throughout the classroom. "First off, I would like to say that this is going to be a rather interesting class... To begin, turn to page ten. Today, you will be making the Draught of Living Death. I understand that this is a very difficult potion to make, and most of you probably haven't ever made something this complex, but there is a silver lining: the person who does the best brewing this potion will win a small bottle of Felix Felicis!"

Professor Slughorn paused, allowing the students to mildly freak out. There were gasps and nearly everyone had turned to their friends to make sure they had heard Slughorn right.

"I'm winning it," James stated.

"No, it's mine," Sirius contradicted.

I smiled to myself, because I knew they were both wrong: I would win it.

"Just to warn you: Felix Felicis is banned in organized competitions, such as sporting events, examinations or elections," Slughorn said, speaking loudly to be heard over all of the whispers. "The person who wins this must use it only on an ordinary day... though I assure you the day will be far from ordinary... All right, good luck! Off you go!"

Everyone practically raced to the cupboards to get the ingredients they needed to make the potion. Remus was right next to me and got his ingredients just before I did. When I got back to our desk, I witnessed Sirius stealing a Sopophorous Bean from Remus.

"Get your own!" Remus yelled at him.

"Fine," Sirius grumbled, tossing Remus the beans he'd stolen and heading over to the cupboards.

Every single student in that dungeon seemed to be having trouble with making the Draught of Living Death, whether it was to cut up the Sopophorous Bean or get the exact right amount of stirs. Personally, I had never before been quite as careful brewing a potion as I was being now. Though I would never admit this to anyone, I was finding it slightly challenging.

As I finished cutting up my valerian roots, nearly cutting myself in the process, I moved on to cut up the Sopophorous Bean. It was proving to be extremely difficult to cut it, however, and I pressed my knife deeper and deeper into it, though it barely made a dent. Suddenly, my knife slipped and moved in such a way that it squeezed a large amount of juice out of the shrivelled bean.

"How did you do that?" Remus asked, trying to force his dagger to cut the Sopophorous Bean.

"I don't know... my knife slipped," I said. I turned to his ingredients and pressed the blade of my knife into one of the Sopophorous Beans on his desk, mimicking my previous actions and releasing the juice from it once again.

"Thanks," Remus said.

I quickly turned back to my potion and stirred it. I added the juice from the Sopophorous Bean to my own cauldron. The fumes coming from the cauldron caused my face to burn bright red and my hair to become frizzy. I wiped the sweat from my brow and kept my focus on the potion, trying to make it as perfect as I could.

By the time Slughorn told us that our time was up, the room was full of steam of all different colours. My lips quirked upwards victoriously as I looked at my Draught of Living Death, which was just the colour it was supposed to be: a very pale pink. I looked over at Remus's, only to see that his was a mix between pink and orange. Behind me, James's and Sirius's potions were both purple, as if they had done the exact same thing wrong. They had probably copied each other.

Professor Slughorn manoeuvred between desks, looking inside cauldrons, occasionally stopping to sniff or stir each potion but never making comments.

After he had looked at each one carefully, he pulled his wand out.

"It appears," he started to say, "that we have three near-perfect potions... I will need a closer look at all of them to be able to tell the real winner."

Slughorn raised his wand and three cauldrons levitated into the air, mine being one of them. I smiled nervously and doubtfully turned to see if Remus's was one of the three cauldrons, but it wasn't. Peering out at the rest of the class, I finally saw who the two other cauldrons belonged to: Severus Snape and Lily.

The three cauldrons gently landed on a table at the very front of the room. Mine was on the left, Lily's in the middle and Snape's on the right.

Slughorn bustled to the front of the room, standing in front of the three cauldrons. He looked into each one, then leaned over and sniffed each of the three. I held my breath as Slughorn's hand lingered over Lily's cauldron. He slowly pushed her potion to the side and pulled mine and Snape's closer towards him to further inspect them.

I turned around to look at James and Sirius, who were both glaring at nothing in particular. I crossed my fingers and James gave me a look that was filled with determination; he clearly didn't want Snape to win.

I nervously looked back towards Slughorn, who was still moving between the two remaining cauldrons. Finally, he stood up straighter and turned to face everyone. The rest of the class watched him intently as he picked up the tiny bottle of Felix Felicis.

"It is very close... very close indeed... nearly too close to call... However, there is one potion that is closer to perfection than any of the others I have seen today," Slughorn said. "Congratulations, Severus! Well done, my boy!"

James swore loudly.

My heart sunk as Slughorn handed the bottle to Snape, who had been eyeing it hungrily. Slughorn brought his hands together to clap for him. I made to clap as well, but Remus seized my wrist and stopped me, shaking his head as if to tell me not to.

If there was anyone else who was as disappointed as I was, it would have to be James, who appeared as though fire might begin spewing out of his hazel eyes.

"It's all right, you're smart enough to make Felix Felicis," Remus said to me. "You don't need it as a prize... you can make it yourself."

I smiled ever so slightly at my best friend, his kindness cheering me up just a little bit.