I close the door to the Ravenclaw Common Room behind me and suddenly feel all the blood in my body freeze when I turn around and see who the only person in the room with me is.

There she is, sitting by the fireplace, with her head bowed down, her hazel eyes on our one of our textbooks, "The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection", some of her blonde locks tucked behind an ear, and her face more mesmerizing than ever with the light from the nearby flames illuminates it, if her face could even get more any more compelling.

What is she doing here all alone?

I let out a deep breath and start walking towards her.

She only looks up when I've already sat on the carpet, directly in front of her, and slumped my bag down beside me.

"Santana Lopez," she says simply in her signature low, unintentionally seductive voice.

If I weren't Santana fucking Lopez, I wouldn't have managed to answer her because, at the moment, I was distracted by her sweet scent, the same aroma I sensed when Professor Snape once made us smell a bottle of Amortentia—the strongest love potion ever made by wizards.

"Quinn Fabray," I reply, not sure whether I should smile at her or not.

You see, Quinn and I aren't exactly friends, which is kind of odd. We're both in the same house and on our fourth year in Hogwarts and we even sleep in the same dorm room. I'm also athletic enough to be part of our Quidditch team as a Chaser, just like her. We're purebloods and quite popular since we are attractive and all, but we don't belong to the same circle of friends and we've never really talked to each other. The truth is this is the first conversation we ever had. We have a lot of differences in our way.

For one, my name is known all throughout the school because, aside from my good looks and intelligence, I am fairly kind-hearted, friendly, reliable and approachable. That's why I'm expected to become a prefect next year. Quinn, on the other hand, is acknowledged because people, even the students in higher years, fear her ever since her first year in Hogwarts. She doesn't even need to threaten anyone to keep them from getting in her way. Just a death glare sent in one's way could send anybody, even guys, running to the bathroom to hide and cry.

Besides, her family is composed of a lot of notorious Death Eaters, the followers of the Dark Lord who's never seen since the night Harry Potter deflected the Killing Curse Voldemort directed at him, and rumors say she would have been next in line if only Voldemort never disappeared. My family, on the other hand, consists of flourishing Aurors, members of an elite unit of highly-trained, specialist officers within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic trained to investigate crimes related to the Dark Arts, and apprehend or detain Dark wizards and witches, and I'm planning to be one, too, in the future.

Despite the conflicts, I have always been smitten by her. I don't know her that much, and I've heard all about her dark personality, but I've always admired the way she looks, the way she moves, the way she is.

"So, what are you doing here all alone?" I ask out of curiosity since, normally, she would either be around admirers from all the houses or her Slytherin friends, including her best friends who are both also from families of Death Eaters, Finn and Mike.

She looks around the room as she says, "This became full when I came in. There were a couple of students doing their homework and chatting when I entered surrounded by a swarm of conceited boys from our Quidditch team drooling at me." Then, she looks directly at me. "I told everyone of them to scat because I don't need their company. The rest in the room looked at each other before following them out."

"Oh…" I almost whisper before seizing my bag and standing up. "Sorry. I guess I'll—"

"No," she stops me. "Stay."

"But you just said you don't need any company."

"I said I didn't want their company. I didn't exactly say that I wanted to be alone."

"Point taken," I utter before sitting back down.

I'm already writing an essay for Divination on a parchment I've rested on a throw pillow when Quinn breaks the silence.

"I don't really get why I'm here." I raise my eyebrow in response.

"I don't get why I've been placed here in Ravenclaw," she explains. "I should have been in Slytherin."

"Well, you are one of the smartest among the smartest in our batch."

She bites her lip as she thinks of an answer. "Yeah. Sure. Next to Granger. See? Even she's sorted into Gryffindor. Don't you think I'm more arrogant than I am intelligent?"

I shrug. "How should I know? I don't really know you."

She tilts her head and nods in agreement. "It's really annoying for me, though—being here. This house is full of geeks. Almost everyone's a bore."

"At least, we have a great view from our Common Room." The arched windows set into the walls of our circular room look down at the school grounds: the lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch and the Herbology gardens. As the prefect who welcomed us during our first day in Hogwarts said, no other houses have such a stunning view.

She nods again, and just stares at me for a while. Then, she says, "Why aren't we friends?"

Because you're Quinn fucking Fabray, genius.

I decide not to speak my mind, just blink and shrug.

She smiles and says words that might just turn my life upside down. "I guess it's not too late to start, is it?"

Nope. Definitely not.