??????? ??? ??? ????? ???? | James Potter

The holidays had flown by in a whirlwind of laughter, late nights, and stolen moments of peace. Now, the soft chill of the winter air had settled over Hogwarts once again, and the students trickled back into the castle after their break. The excitement of Christmas and the New Year felt like a distant memory, and reality was settling in as everyone prepared for the rest of the school year.

As the Hogwarts Express arrived back at the station, the students made their way into the Great Hall for the first breakfast of the term. The usual buzz of chatter filled the room, but there was a palpable sense of change in the air—one that had come with the revealing of secrets and the new dynamics between friends.

Celeste, Mary, and Lily sat together at the Gryffindor table, talking quietly, but the usual comfort was now tinged with the awareness of their new relationships and the challenges that lay ahead. Celeste glanced over at James, who was laughing with Sirius, and her heart gave a flutter. Things had shifted between them, but the connection was still strong.

"I can’t believe we’re back," Mary said, rubbing her eyes as if to wake herself up. "It feels like we just left. And now... back to the same old stuff."

"At least we have our little secrets," Celeste grinned, glancing at Lily and giving her a wink. "I think the boys are still processing everything."

Lily chuckled, brushing her hair out of her face. "They’ll get over it. I think James is just glad I didn’t, you know, run away to some random place to get away from him."

Mary snorted. "Definitely not. James wouldn’t let you go anywhere without him."

Celeste laughed softly, nodding in agreement. "True. And we all know Sirius would do the same. He doesn’t exactly have the best boundaries."

Lily rolled her eyes but smiled fondly. "As long as they leave us alone to figure things out. We didn’t come back to school just to be followed around."

"Well," Mary said, stretching her arms, "at least we can finally relax. We’ve been hiding things for too long."

The conversation shifted to lighter topics as the group joked about the upcoming Quidditch matches and plans for the semester, but Celeste couldn’t help but notice the quiet exchange between Remus and Sirius across the table. They hadn’t exactly come out to the entire school about their relationship, but their closeness was becoming more noticeable.

James leaned in and spoke quietly, his eyes glancing at Celeste. "So, how was your holiday?" he asked, voice soft but teasing.

Celeste smiled at him, her heart light. "Better than expected. Got to spend time with you, after all."

He chuckled, nudging her with his shoulder. "Good. I hope you had fun. You know, now that we don’t have to sneak around anymore."

Celeste's smile softened. "Yeah. No more sneaking."

But just as quickly, the conversation shifted again, and everyone started talking about the new semester ahead—the classes they were dreading, the assignments that were already piling up, and the events to look forward to.

"Well, we survived the holidays, but now it’s back to reality," Marlene said, grinning at them. "Brace yourselves, girls."

"Yeah," Lily sighed, but there was a determined gleam in her eye. "Let’s show this school what we’re made of."

And with that, the day resumed its usual rhythm, but it was clear—things were never going to be quite the same. Secrets had been revealed, new relationships had bloomed, and Hogwarts would be seeing a new, stronger version of all of them as the rest of the year began.