Chapter 21

                                    

                                          
The holidays actually flew by.
I'd exchanged a few letters with Sirius and Remus, received a post card from Lina, Aleya and Valerie and played a few games when Francisca and my mum didn't have to work in the evenings. When I was alone I listened and sang along to my music, drew some pictures or went strolling around the suburb, watching little children play or walking their dogs. 
The next thing I knew, there were only two days of the holidays left and I hadn't learned or done my homework. So that had taken up these last few days, and now I was sitting in the Hogwarts Express again. This time, Valerie, Lina and Aleya were sitting with me again, telling me all about their little trip.
I only listened with one ear, my mind was occupied with something else. Or rather someone else.
It was very strange, but I'd been excited since the moment I'd woken up and realised that I'd return to Hogwarts today. I'd spent the whole day being fidgety and giddy, constantly smiling and having that tingly feeling in my stomach.
With other words: I felt amazing, as if on a serotonin boosting potion or drug.
I was completely whipped, wasn't I?
I didn't know; all of these feelings were new to me. Were these intense feelings still normal for a crush? 
The train ride felt way too long. I kept bobbing up and down on my seat, looking out of the window and on my watch in anticipation. And when we reached Hogsmeade Station and exited the train, I immediately roamed the platform in search for a very certain Gryffindor, but I didn't find him. 
However, I did find James, who was reuniting with Remus and Peter just now.
"You can go ahead without me, okay?" I said to my friends. "I'll join you at dinner very soon."
They nodded and said their goodbyes, so I made my way through the crowded platform to meet James, Peter and Remus.
When they saw me, they gave me big smiles. "Hi Freya," James said.
"Did you have nice holidays?" Peter asked and I nodded.
"They were quite nice."
I discreetly looked around again and couldn't suppress the question. "Is Sirius not here?"
James shook his head, a wrinkle appearing on his scrunched up forehead. "He dissapeared after lunch. I don't know where he is; he took the map, too. But he said he'd be back in time to greet you all on the platform."
I kept the smile on my face, even though my heart dropped in disappointment. I didn't want to admit it, but Sirius' absence saddened me more than it should have. 
"Well, he isn't," Remus said matter-of-factly. "Should we go look for him?"
Peter grinned. "Oh, don't bother. We're talking about Sirius, he's almost never on time!"
James laughed, and even I cracked a smile, too. "You're right. We should get going then, he'll be back soon, I'm sure of it."
I allowed myself a little disappointed sigh, but quickly regained my posture. Then we all stepped into a carriage together and let it take us to the castle.
"You really shouldn't have missed April 1st," James was talking to Remus and Peter. "We took April fools day seriously, you know? We even managed to prank Peeves!"
"What did you do?" Peter bent forward excitedly, a glint in his blue eyes.
James grinned proudly, almost puffing out his chest. "We took the you-know-what and followed Peeves around." I had to grin because I knew what James was talking about, but they didn't know that I knew. "We've bewitched our voices to let them sound like the Bloody Baron's and we kept threatening him for about ten minutes straight. He even tap-danced in front of two Slytherins, before he started to find our requests suspicious. Took him long enough, really. "
Remus, Peter and I burst into laughter, and James' grin widened at our reaction. "Then we did the classics like spreading stones that say 'Flip me over', only to have 'Why did you listen to a stone, dummy?' written on the backside. Oh, and the jelly leg potion in sweets we left in several corridors. Some potion in some sweets made people talk in rhymes for the rest of the day, too. Or it made them add 'Hippogriff' to the end of each sentence. They were all so confused, it was wonderful."
"I see, you've kept the castle busy," Remus grinned, and James nodded proudly. "Of course! April fools day is my favourite day after my birthday! You're not allowed to leave next year!"
Remus and Peter were completely in sync when they lifted their right hands in the air and laid their left ones on their chests. "Marauders promise."
I honestly loved their friendship.
"Wait, there's Sirius, isn't he?" Remus pointed to the castle's entrance, where several students were getting off their carriages. 
"You're right," James grinned. "So he's not dead, that's all I needed to know."
I followed their eyes. There was Marlene McKinnon reuniting with her friends, and a few feet in front of her was the person I'd been dying to meet again throughout the whole day.
Sirius grinned at us. One hand was resting in the pocket of his trousers, and the other one was waving at us. I waved back with the biggest smile on my face, but hopefully not too red in the face. 
When our carriage stopped, it took all of my self control to not tackle Remus and Peter aside and run into Sirius' arms before them.
So I waited until Remus and Peter had both hugged (or whatever it was that the boys did there) Sirius.
Then, Sirius looked at me and bent his knees a little, stretching out his arms.
I didn't wait to fall into them, not caring how it looked. I was way too happy to see him, I even forgot to ask where he'd been.
"Hi Sirius," I mumbled, hugging him as tightly as I could.
Sirius almost crushed me, too. His breath tickled my ear. "Hi, Frey. I've missed you, too." 
That was what heaven must feel like.
His warm arms embraced me and I was surrounded by his amazing scent, giving me a feeling of comfort, safety and happiness that only Sirius managed to make me feel. I hadn't even known these feelings existed. 
I could've stayed there forever. I'd found my favourite place on earth. 
I focused on nothing but him at that moment. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest and my cheeks were flushed, but I felt truly happy and at home.











Sorry I didn't proof read bc I was in a rush bc I have to sleep now, but I wanted to update a chapter :)