black | sirius black

Amortentia

Just like that, the Christmas holidays were over, fading into the realm of cherished memories. The Potters' home, once adorned with festive decorations and the warmth of holiday cheer, had now returned to its everyday charm. The lingering scent of evergreen and the faint echoes of laughter seemed like ethereal remnants of the joyful season.

"Had a lovely break?" Lily Evans dropped her heavy bag on the wooden table as she smiled at Jayce, who stopped her conversation with James to face the red-head.

"Me or him?" Jayce raised an eyebrow teasingly.

Lily huffed, but a clear blush was evident on her cheeks.

Jayce smirked. It was about time.

"Or both." James butted in, wrapping an arm around Jayce. "We did spend the break with the rest of the guys and Marlene."

"I'm envious." Lily groaned.

"Your sister?" Jayce asked.

Lily had actually sent her a letter towards the end of the holidays.

It was mostly her talking about how much her parents had missed her, how they were planning on taking her to Paris this summer to show her their appreciation. But, a good portion of Lily's letter actually talked a lot about her sister, Petunia Evans. Lily never specifically mentioned that her sister hated her because she was a witch, but judging from what Petunia calls Lily and merging the events together, it was clear that the two sisters didn't see eye to eye and that Petunia was a jealous burn who wanted in on being a witch as well.

Lily delicately touched upon the complexities of her relationship with Petunia. She didn't explicitly mention Petunia's resentment towards her magical abilities, but the carefully chosen words and the undercurrents of her narrative hinted at a strained sisterhood.

As Lily spoke, Jayce sensed that there was more to their dynamic than met the eye.

"And her pesky little boyfriend. He's ugly. Inside and out. He kept talking about how much better his house was and completely ruined Christmas." Lily rolled her eyes. "But, enough about me. I didn't have any fun. What about you guys? What did you do?"

"We showed Jayce around Godric's Hollow a lot. But, other than that, we just spent time inside." James explained.

"And we're back!" Remus joined the table, holding two cauldrons.

"So lovely to see you ladies this morning." Sirius Black said from behind the other two cauldrons he was holding.

"Good morning to you too, Sirius." Lily giggled.

"Let me help you with that." James immediately took the cauldrons from Remus and Sirius and helped set them on the table.

"Why do we need so many cauldrons?" Lily elbowed Jayce.

"Because apparently, our entire friend group has Potions first period this semester." Jayce chuckled, pointing to Marlene, Mary, and Peter, who were making their way over to the others with their own cauldrons.

"I think we're going to have to drag a new table in." Professor Slughorn adjusted his glasses as he noticed the number of people crowding around one table.

Unlike the other professors, Slughorn was rather lenient when it came to friends grouping up together because, according to him, it was easier to move a couple of tables than to argue with a group of teenagers.

Despite it being the first day of school after the Christmas holidays, the classes started right off the bat and Quidditch practice schedules were flying around.