Disclaimer: Anything familiar to you means that it's not mine.

Vivian LeMeuix was a sixth year at Hogwarts when she became the center of every girl's envy. Granted, it wasn't her fault. In fact, Vivian would have gladly taken her "old life" back and forget the one she happened to be living at that moment. But she couldn't get her old life back, and the reasoning for this was one, James Potter.

Being sixteen, Vivian had been in her fair share of relationships. Most of these relationships ended in disaster for her. She had been broken too many times and by the time her fifth year at Hogwarts ended she was done with men for good. She was sick of being hurt and men seemed to bring her hurt and sadness, so her resolution was to cut them out of her life for good.

But around the time that very same summer vacation began, a certain male began to take an interest in Vivian. He was also going to be a sixth year with her in the upcoming school year. This man: James Potter (the second).

James had never cared to become a friend of Vivian's and even after being in classes with her for five years, he would only consider himself an acquaintance to her, and she felt the same way towards him. So what changed to make him, oh so suddenly, take such a strong interest in Vivian LeMeuix? All it took was one night…

James Potter trudged down the hallway slowly, sore from his extended quidditch practice. He was just passing the charms classroom when he heard a faint whimper; someone was crying. James considered walking on and ignoring whoever was crying in the charms classroom, but with only two steps away from the door he sighed and turned back toward the charms classroom.

He opened the door slowly, trying not to startle whoever was in the room. He peeked his head around the door and slowly walked in. A girl with wild hair was sitting on the floor of the dark classroom. In the dim moonlight James could see the mess that was her hair covering the majority of her face. But James wouldn't need to see the girl's face, because even being only an acquaintance to the girl; he and anybody else would be able to recognize the dark red hair that belonged to Vivian LeMeuix.

He slowly began to process the way that she looked. He could see the tearstains on her blotchy, red face. Faint black lines fell from her eyes from where her eyeliner and mascara were running down her face, catching on with any stray tears. Her hair was tangled and bushy as opposed to the regular soft curls that rested just below her shoulders.

She was shaking with mostly silent sobs. Every so often a small whimper would escape her lips and she would cry a little harder. James couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the girl sitting on the floor. He had never known Vivian too well but nobody could have possibly looked at her like this and not have had some sort of compassion in their heart.

He coughed lightly to make his presence known. Vivian shook with a start and looked up at James. "Erm… sorry to… er, walk in but I heard you and thought…" He trailed off as the girl groaned and put her head in her hands in humiliation. "Erm, do you… are you okay?"

Vivian looked up at James who was now standing over her and gave him a glare that sent chills down his spine. She stood up furiously and said in her most venomous voice, "Do I look okay to you? And it doesn't matter because I don't need your help!" With those words she stomped out of the classroom, slamming the door behind her.

Most men would take offense to such strong words and would never give another thought to the girl, but James wasn't like most men. James didn't sleep well that night, and when he did sleep, images of Vivian's blotchy, tear-stained face filled his mind, almost instantly waking him up every time.

James' thoughts became more and more focused and centered around the red head as time went on. The next day in classes she looked perfectly fine and she didn't pay him any mind. This made James wonder if anything had ever really happened in the first place or if the extra long quidditch practices were just messing with his head. But James was soon assured of what he saw that night in the charms classroom when he his best friend, Otto told him the latest rumor going around the school: Vivian's boyfriend, Aidan, cheated on her. Again.

James was furious. He didn't know why he was so angry and upset because Aidan had done this in the past. In fact, this was the third time he had done this to Vivian. Vivian had taken him back after every awful thing that Aidan had done to her. How could she not? He was gorgeous, he listened to her, and she had fallen in love with him over a year ago when they first started going out. He was her definition of perfect. He was her own personal angel in her mind.

But a single heart can only be broken so many times before it becomes incapable to handle anymore fracture. And so Vivian slowly began to close off her heart to everyone. So when the summer break came and she went back home to her family it wasn't a surprise that she didn't tell them any details of what happened in her year. Her sister was left confused and Vivian was left blind to everyone else's concern.

Meanwhile, the summer sun lit up the Potter's house and James spent most of his time in his room thinking about a certain red-haired girl. It wasn't like James to fall hard for any girl, never mind one that was completely unattainable, yet Vivian had his heart and he didn't seem to be forgetting this fact anytime soon.

Otto was beginning to worry about James. James was his best friend, practically his brother. He knew James better than anyone else and he could honestly say that James was definitely not acting like he normally would…

Of course Otto had seen James fall for girls, possibly dozens! But never had Otto seen his friend so infatuated with a single girl. Of course, Otto knew very well that Vivian LeMeuix was possibly one of the most unattainable girls in Hogwarts at the moment and maybe in all of history. How could she not be? With all the times she had been broken nobody could blame her for not wanting another relationship.

But to Otto, James didn't look like he was going to give up on Vivian anytime soon. Otto didn't mind James falling for girls most of the time, but James' falling for Vivian was different. It changed James; made him act differently. James normally focused more on quidditch than anything else in the world. He definitely never let a girl get between him and quidditch, yet James wasn't playing at his usual level. In fact, he was playing much worse than usual. It was like James wasn't even in his body at all; he was simply a mindless drone.

But mindless was only Otto's description of James. James was actually far from mindless over that summer when he turned sixteen. In fact, it seemed that James was more mind than anything else over this period of time. And even though the quiet, thoughtful James did get a more open and vibrant like his usual self when the school year started, he was still not quite where everyone remembered him being at the end of the previous school year.

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"James! We've got a compartment saved down here!" Otto called down the train to his friend. James smiled and walked toward Otto. He hadn't even reached Otto before Otto began a conversation about his family's trip to Japan over the summer break. Around the time Otto began his tale though, James was distracted by none other than Vivian LeMeuix walking with her best friend, Monica Barclay.

"Hello? Earth to James! Are you on Mars, man?" Otto screamed at his friend, bringing James out of his reverie.

"What?" James asked.

"God… You need to get over that girl fast. Before quidditch season definitely!" Otto told James as they walked into the compartment.

"I don't know Otto… I think she likes me." Otto laughed out loud at James' remark.

"She doesn't even notice you!" James' face fell from the confident smirk it had just moments ago. "I mean, come on, you can have any girl you want. Your choice! I'd bet more than half the girls in our grade are in love with you!" Otto said. "Take your pick of any of them, just stay away from LeMeuix, she's already a train wreck, you don't need that kind of girl to stress you out."

"Don't say that!" James cut in. "She's not a train wreck, Otto! She's… I don't know… Look at everything that she's been through. She should be a walking lunatic! But she's not. She acts completely normal around everyone! That's pretty amazing, isn't it?"

"You've gone soft on me, Jamsie… Don't go to the girl's side! It's got frills!" Otto screamed overdramatically, causing a group of first years to stare at him with looks that clearly said that they were wondering if making the choice to go to Hogwarts was a good one. James punched his friend in the shoulder and smiled walking into the compartment.

VLVLVLVL

"So did you hear that Otto asked out Clair over the summer?" Keely asked loudly as she met Monica and Vivian at the doorway to their compartment.

Monica dropped the bag she had been carrying which had her owl cage in it. "Are you serious?" She shrieked, which could hardly be heard over the clanging of the cage and the hooting of her owl. "Oh shut up, Waffles!" She yelled at her owl picking up the cage. "I didn't drop you that hard!"

"Yes! I heard it directly from Blake!" Keely said in a tone that said that she was as shocked as Monica obviously was.

"Wow," Monica said. "They are totally complete opposites! I bet that they won't last more than a month!"

"Sure you aren't just jealous? You want Otto all for yourself?" Vivian asked her friend with a smirk as she put her trunk into the luggage bin. Monica hit her on the arm and Vivian laughed as she tried not to let her trunk fall on top of them both.

"I do not like him! He's totally not my type at all! But on the other hand," she said trying to change the subject. "James is totally into you!" She exclaimed smiling broadly.

"Oh my god I know!" Keely yelled. "Did you see him staring at her as you were walking in here? It was so cute!"

"Ew, Potter? Not my type." Vivian dismissed the thought as she finished getting her trunk to fit into the compartment and sat down with a chocolate frog.

"Oh come on! He's totally amazing!" Keely said.

"No, he thinks he's totally amazing, and that's totally annoying!" Vivian said as she bit the head off of her chocolate frog with more force than that necessary.

"Come on, Viv! He plays quidditch, he's practically top student, and he's caring and considerate…"

"Caring and considerate?" Vivian exclaimed, cutting off her friend's sentence. "He broke up with his girlfriend because she wasn't a good enough kisser!"

"Oh, Viv that was years ago! He's totally changed since then!" Keely said as she sat down opposite Vivian.

"He's a man," Vivian began. "They never change and they're all the same." Vivian turned to the window to signal that she was done having this conversation. Monica noticed the way that Vivian's voice cracked on the last word. Monica glared at Keely for pushing the subject too far but knew too well than to try to cheer up her friend. All she could do for Vivian was give her some time and let her talk when she was ready. Needless to say, the ride to the school wasn't a great one in the girls' compartment…

A/N: So that was a kinda sucky chapter ending but I don't really want to go any farther before I know if anyone wants to read more. I'm really proud of this story, but please review to tell me if you like it, hate it, if and when you want more, and with any other comments and suggestions you may have. Without reviews there won't be updates, so please review. ~lolly