Rumer Cunningham walked down the front lawn of Hogwarts, determination and annoyance written across her face. She had been looking for James Potter for nearly half an hour and was beginning to grow impatient.

After leaving the Headmaster's office she had been told to look on the Quidditch pitch for a Mr. James Potter who was supposedly the Head Boy and a member of her house, Gryffindor. But when she had gotten to the pitch he had already left.

Since then she had searched almost the entire castle, from the dungeons to the astronomy tower, and gotten lost countless times before finally swallowing her pride and asking for help. She had then been directed to the front lawn, and now she was searching intently for a messy-haired boy wearing glasses. I swear, if he's not here I'll…but her thoughts were suddenly cut off as she finally spotted him.

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Boys and girls alike stopped what they were doing to watch the gorgeous blonde who was walking purposefully towards the lake, but Rumer took no notice of them, her attention solely upon the boy who was at that moment being told off something fierce by a pretty redheaded girl.

"For the last time, Potter!" she heard the girl shout, clearly frustrated. "I will NOT go out with you! I wouldn't go out with you even if you were the last man on Earth and the world was populated by sheep! In fact, I would choose the sheep before I'd ever choose you!"

"Then I guess having my children is completely out of the question?" the boy asked innocently; which earned a cry of outrage from the girl as she lunged at him. Two of his friends, clearly expecting this, however, grabbed her before she could reach him and held her back as she struggled to reach James.

"Told you she wanted me, Padfoot," James said cockily to one of the boys who was holding Lily back, earning a bark-like laugh from the boy and a renewed effort from Lily, who somehow managed to break free and tackle James.

They wrestled on the grass for a while before James finally managed to pin her down underneath him. "Geez Evans," he began in mock outrage. "I mean I knew you liked me, but still… we haven't even had our first date yet."

Lily glared up at him angrily, still struggling against him. "Get off of me."

"What's the magic word?"

"Please," she muttered grudgingly.

"Sorry?" James laughed. "Didn't quite catch that."

"Please," she repeated, slightly louder.

"Nope, that's not it. Try again."

"Pretty please?"

"Good try, but I'm afraid that's still not exactly what I was looking for. Actually… it's more of a sentence than a word," he said grinning broadly.

"I am NOT going out with you. Get it through you thick skull."

"Come on Lily. Just say yes. It'll be fun," James begged.

"James Potter," Lily began in a warning tone. "If you don't get off of me right this instant I swear I'm going to scream bloody murder."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh I would."

James frowned at her for a moment. "Alright, alright," he said, as he got up and brushed the dirt off his robes. "There's no need to get so upset."

"No need to get upset?" Lily cried, drawing out her wand and pointing it at a very startled looking James. "That's it, I've had enough! If you even come within five feet from me for the rest of the year I swear I will hex you into oblivion. Do I make myself clear?

James nodded slightly, eyeing the end of her wand warily.

"Good," Lily shouted before marching back up to the castle.

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"What is it with her?" James asked quietly, starring after the retreating redhead.

"Well," I began, taking pleasure at watching the four boys jump. "I'd say she thinks you're a bit of a jerk." They stared at me for a moment, mouths open, as I desperately fought to keep a smile off my face.

"Wh-Who are you?" a small mousy haired boy stammered, staring up at me in awe.

I smiled sweetly at him, causing him to blush, before answering. "Oh. I'm Rumer Cunningham. I just moved here from the U.S, and I start school here tomorrow. Professor Dumbledore told me to talk to James Potter. I guess that's you," I asked, turning back to James.

James, however, didn't respond. He was still staring bug eyed at me.

"That is your name isn't it?" I heard his friends snigger in the background.

"What?" he asked snapping out of his reverie. Then continuing in a deeper voice, "Oh yeah, I'm James Potter. Don't know why Dumbledore would send you to me though."

"He said you were Head Boy or something and that we were in the same house."

"You're in Gryffindor then?" another boy asked.

I was about to reply, but as I turned to the speaker I suddenly felt my mouth go dry, because standing before me was the single most gorgeous guy I had ever seen. He was tall, probably around six feet, and very fit, not too muscular and not too thin. Black hair hung almost to his shoulders and he had to most amazing eyes, blue flecked with grey. Or was it the other way around? Suddenly I realized that I was staring, and I felt myself blush. When was the last time a boy made me blush? Hmmm…never!

"According to that hat," I said, hoping my Californian tan would hide my embarrassment.

"Oh. Do you mean the sorting hat?" asked a boy with sandy blonde hair.

"Yeah, I think that's what Dumbledore called it," I replied. "I just put it on my head and it said that I should be in Gryffindor."

"That's the sorting hat alright," the blonde boy said with a slight smile. "I'm Remus Lupin by the way, and that's Peter Pettigrew," he said indicating the mousy haired boy.

"And I am Sirius Black," said the dark haired boy, flashing me a very sexy smile.

If any of his friends thought anything about him flirting with a girl he had barely known for five minutes, they didn't let on. In fact, it was clear that this was typical Sirius behavior.

"Are you all in Gryffindor then?" I asked.

"Yeah," James answered.

"Where you nervous about being sorted?" Peter asked.

I couldn't help but laugh. "No, not really. I don't really understand the big deal about these houses, so I didn't really care which one I got into."

"Well you're lucky that you got into Gryffindor," said James. "We always win everything."

"The House and Quidditch Cup," Remus supplied.

"Oh," I said. "What about the other houses?"

"Well, Slytherins are a bunch of pureblood fanatics," said Sirius, with a touch of bitterness in his voice.

"The Ravenclaws all think their smarter than everyone else," added James.

"And Hufflepuffs are just plain duffers," joked Sirius.

"Hey!" cried Peter.

"Oh yeah, sorry Pete. I forgot you were still going out with that one Hufflepuff girl."

Peter just laughed, "It's alright, Sirius. Sometimes I forget too." Everyone laughed at this.

"Well," said James finally. "I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat." And with that we headed to the great hall.