Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter
Sarah Burke sat in the library surrounded by books. Lisa and Su had returned to the common room hours before, claiming it was silly to work so hard on a Friday. Perhaps to them it was silly, but to Sarah it was necessary. For four years now, Hermione Granger and her had been engaged in a fight for the top spot in their class. This potions essay, even if it wasn't due until Wednesday, had to be perfect.
Sarah bent over her essay, scribbling furiously away. Every so often she'd angrily move away bits of long red hair that fell into her face. Dark brown eyes darted back and forth as she wrote, and nothing seemed to be able to distract her from her task.
Eventually though, as curfew drew nearer, she admitted defeat for the night and packed up her things. The library was practically deserted now, and Sarah nodded to Madame Pince as she made her way out. The old woman favored her with a small smile. Sarah was quiet, well behaved, and never gave her any trouble. In return she got permission to use the restricted section often, even though she was just a fourth year.
The hallways proved to be almost as deserted as the library. The trek between Ravenclaw Tower and the library was short, probably due to the fact that most of her house practically lived in the library.
As Sarah neared the corner near the tower, a body flew around it and slammed into her. She let out a gasp of surprise and dropped her bag, spilling books, quills and parchment all over the floor.
"Oh sorry! Let me help you with that." The stranger said, quickly dropping to the floor and piling everything back into her bag. After a minute or so her stood, handing her back everything.
The boy was of average height, a bit scrawny, and had jet-black hair lying messily on his head. His eyes were a brilliant green and above them... on his forehead...
"Blimey, you're Harry Potter!" Sarah said, blushing at her outburst. "Sorry" she apologized.
"I should be the one apologizing." Said Harry, running his hand through his hair nervously.
"Honestly its ok. No harm, no foul right?" Sarah laughed, smiling at him. "I'm Sarah by the way. Sarah Burke. I'm in Ravenclaw, your year."
Harry grinned and stuck out his hand.
"Its nice to meet you. I don't have too many classes with the Ravenclaws but I think I've seen you in History of Magic. Though I can't be sure. I'm sleeping most of the time." Harry laughed, and Sarah smiled in response.
"Honestly, I'd be sleeping too, if only your friend Granger did. But seeing as she doesn't, I'm not about to let a Gryffindor be the top of the class. That's an honor reserved for Ravenclaw. No offense." She added quickly, afraid she'd insulted his friend.
"None taken. I wish she'd sleep too, and stop nagging Ron and I for not listening to a thing Binns says. Ah well, Hermione will always be Hermione." Sarah nodded, then glanced at her watch.
"Wow, its nearly curfew I've got to get into Ravenclaw Tower. But it was nice meeting you Harry. I'll see you around ok? Maybe at the ball or something." She smiled, and took a few steps away.
"Wait! Do you have a date to the Yule ball already?" Harry asked, blushing a little. Sarah blushed in return.
"No, not yet. Why do you ask?" she inquired.
"Would you go to the ball with me?" Harry shuffled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sounds great. I'd love to. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall before it starts if that works for you?" she smiled, and he grinned back at her.
"Perfect! I'll see you then!" And with that Harry turned and walked away, leaving a smiling and happy Sarah behind him.
Sarah made her way up to the Ravenclaw common room, unable to keep the smile off her face. Harry Potter had asked her to the ball. And he seemed so nice, not anything like the Hufflepuffs claimed he was like. Then again, he was competing against Cedric and that was bound to cause tensions between the two houses. Traditionally the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors got along very well, but with the Tournament going on things had become strained.
She entered the common room and immediately spotted Lisa and Su sitting by the fire, chatting with each other. However, as she made her way over to them someone got in her way.
"What do you want Michael?" Sarah asked. She was unable to keep her impatience out of her voice.
"Will you go to the ball with me Sarah?" he grinned at her, seemingly certain she would accept.
"I already have a date Michael. We broke up, remember? I've moved on." She tried to move around him but he wouldn't budge.
"You may have moved on but I haven't. Who are you going with!" demanded Michael, a possessive gleam in his eye.
"That's none of your business. He's nicer than you. And certainly less arrogant." With that she ducked around him, joining her friends by the fire.
"Why is Michael glaring at you?" Asked Lisa as she braided Su's hair.
"I won't go to the ball with him. He's just upset about that." Sarah said, curling up on the couch and hugging a pillow.
"Good choice, I always thought he was a scumbag. Don't know why you went out with him..." said Lisa. Su looked up and laughed at the two of them.
"She probably went out with him because you told her they were cute together. If I remember correctly, you encouraged them." Su stuck out her tongue, and Sarah giggled. Lisa just shook her head and smiled.
Sarah decided now was the best time to tell her friends. "But, I do have a date to the ball... he just asked me as I was coming back from the library."
Lisa squealed and stopped braiding Su's hair, giving Sarah all her attention. Su turned around so she was facing the other two.
"Who! You've got to tell us!" Exclaimed Lisa. Sarah glanced around nervously before saying quietly, "Harry Potter". The reaction was immediate. Su looked shocked and Lisa looked like Christmas had come early.
"How the hell did that happen? You've never even spoken to him!" Su asked. It was true, none of the girls had had any contact with Harry Potter outside of the few classes they shared with him.
"I ran into him on my way back from the library. We started talking a bit, and before I knew it he asked me to the ball. He was so sweet and nervous, I couldn't say no." Sarah smiled, and her friends looked at each other.
"Its lucky that we left the library early then. Or this little meeting would never have happened." Said Su, grinning.
"Yeah, you could almost say that it's thanks to us that he asked you out." Lisa added.
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Sure, if that makes you happy. Its because of your study habits that I have a date with Harry Potter."
Her two friends just kept smiling, and before long the three of them were rolling on the floor laughing, while Michael just glared angrily at them from a corner. He'd heard enough of it to know that Sarah, who should be his girlfriend, was going to the ball with Harry Potter.