~Chapter One~

Her honey brown hair hung down to the middle of her back, each gleaming strand straight as a pin. Keen green eyes looked out from below her fringe, surveying the scene before her. Clearly spotting what she was searching for, she walked gracefully towards her destination. Her petite body looked tantalizing, clad in a pair of dark blue jeans and an olive green scoop-neck tee. A tiny fraction of her flat tummy was exposed above her brown leather belt. The color of her shirt brought out the golden tone of her flawless skin.

Ellena Walker: American, witch, top of her class, and chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Guys wanted to date her and girls wanted to be her. She was absolutely gorgeous and intelligent, and to make her even more unbearably perfect, she was nice.

Even more attuned to her than anyone else in the room was Sirius Black: Wizard, Mr. Popular, beater on the Gryffindor quidditch team, and the heartthrob of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He watched her every move as she sauntered across the Great Hall towards the Gryffindor table, taking note of all the eyes following her trail. The phrase "head turner" came to mind and he chuckled to himself. She was the epitome of that expression. She was a goddess on earth.

The only thing that irked him about Ellena was that she was the one person that could make him nervous; and standing at only 4'9", an entire sixteen inches shorter than him, made that fact annoyingly ironic. Normally, he was calm and collected around girls, but that façade fell apart in her presence.

He watched as her full, pink lips spread into a dazzling smile as she sat down next to her best friend, Lilly Evans. She helped herself to a large helping of eggs and sausage links, no doubt to sustain her for the grueling quidditch practices ahead of them. James was working them to death in preparation for the face-off between Gryffindor and Slytherin next weekend.

His attention turned to Lilly as she laughed heartily at something Ellena said. Lilly was probably the only reason why Ellena never agreed to go out with Sirius (at least in his head).

As a fiercely loyal friend, Ellena could never date her best friend's enemy's best friend. She made that perfectly clear when he asked her to Hogsmeade a few weeks ago. She was nice about letting him down, though it didn't make it any less embarrassing for him. This, however, did not put him off one little bit. It only made him want her even more, and Sirius Black always gets what he wants.

"So you promise?" James interrupted his thoughts. He looked expectantly at Sirius.

"Hm?"

"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?" James asked incredulously.

"Yea mate, extra beater practice tomorrow," Sirius replied thinking back to what James had been talking about before Ellena walked in the room.

"No, I was talking about the party! What's got you all wigged out Padfoot?" James's eyes followed Sirius's gaze.

"Aww mate, you've gotta give it a rest! She turned you down! Get over it and go on to the next one like you always do."

"Like that ever stopped you from pursuing that redheaded devil," Sirius jabbed his finger in the direction of Lily Evans. He never liked her much considering his situation with Ellena. As far as he was concerned, she was a constant thorn in his side.

"It's different with Evans. We're meant to be," James said as if pointing out an obvious fact.

"She doesn't seem to think so. In fact, I do recall her saying that she could never date a pigheaded arse like yourself," Sirius pointed out.

"Minor setback as far as I'm concerned. I just have to show her that I am not the pigheaded arse she thinks of me as and I'm in!" James said triumphantly.

"Great plan, except for the fact that you are a pigheaded arse. That may be a problem in the long run," Sirius laughed. James threw a tater-tot at his face.

"Hey!" Sirius retaliated by launching a sausage link from his spoon. James was about to even the score with a spoonful of eggs, but froze when he heard an extremely angry voice from behind him. His smile disappeared very quickly.

"Drop the eggs, James!" Lilly Evans yelled. Stunned, he didn't react quick enough for her so she pried the spoon from his fingers herself and set it down on the table with a loud clink. She pulled him up by the ear and ushered him out of the Great Hall.

"As Head Boy you should learn to control yourself. Set an example for…"Lilly was lecturing him as she lead him away from their dumbstruck audience. A few snickers could be heard from the Slytherin table.

Sirius's sides hurt he was laughing so hard. It was quite a comical sight seeing James, the fierce quidditch captain, being dragged away by a girl considerably smaller than himself.

"Wow!" he exhaled, clutching his sides.

"You should probably go check on him, make sure he's still breathing perhaps?" a musical voice came from beside him. Sirius's breath hitched.

"Uh…uh huh," he stammered as he looked into the amused green eyes of Ellena.

"Think, Sirius, think. Say something funny, witty. Say anything!" he thought frantically.

She giggled and said, "come on!" She pulled him up by his hand.

"Man is her smile pretty." Sirius thought to himself.

Sirius followed her out of the Great Hall, blissfully happy just to be in her presence.

The pair found Lilly and James directly outside, still arguing. No surprise there.

"Why can't you just take 'no' for an answer?!" Lilly yelled, gesticulating wildly. "I've told you over and over again, my feelings for you will never change! Get that through your thick skull for Merlin's sake!"

"Even when Lilly is clearly livid with him, James still asks her out. You have to give the boy credit for perseverance," Ellena laughed.

"Or for stupidity," Sirius grimaced.

Ellena laughed at his comment. The sound was like the tinkling of bells. Sirius mentally patted himself on the back, very pleased with himself.

"How could you have developed any sort of feelings for me at all if we haven't spent any quality time together?" James asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I guess hating you just comes naturally to me," Lilly offered.

"Give me a half hour and you'll be singing a different tune," he pulled her head towards his and kissed her full on the lips.

"Of all the stupid moves he could've made." Sirius put a hand to his face in exasperation.

Lilly's arms flailed around until she was able to push James away from her. Her pale skin was flushed scarlet and her features were twisted into a look of complete hatred. Her hand made contact with James's cheek and a loud slap echoed through the corridor.

"H-h-how dare you!" Lilly was having trouble speaking she was so furious.

James looked scared for a moment, but recovered behind his smug grin.

"Now imagine having that for the rest of your life."

"I WOULD NEVER EVER WANT YOU EVEN IF I HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN YOU AND THE GIANT SQUID!" she growled.

"Lilly, dear, let's step outside. It's a beautiful day and we wouldn't want you to murder James and spoil it all," Ellena stepped in.

"Murder him? Ha!" Lilly scoffed. "I'd rather he live in his miserable existence. It's a much better punishment."

"Ouch," Sirius sniggered.

"Aww Evans, you know you don't mean that."

"Oh, but I do," Lilly narrowed her emerald green eyes.

"Lils?" Ellena tugged at her arm.

"I'm coming Elle!" she snapped back, still glaring daggers at James. She slowly turned around, making sure to give James one more nasty look before she left.

"Bye Sirius, James," Ellena looked apologetically at James.

"She wants me," James said as the two girls walked away from them. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You're delusional, Prongs…so, you mention something about a party?" They started walking towards the quidditch pitch.

"Yea, tonight in the Hufflepuff common room. Anna Herrington invited me and mentioned something about how Rachael Prince was hoping to see you. Mooney likes that Sarah Adams chick and Wormtail is, well, he will be up for it. Sounds like it will be something to keep us entertained…at least for a while," James smirked.

"Rachael Prince," Sirius looked thoughtful for a while, "isn't she the blonde in our charms class?"

"Yea, yea, the one who shagged Michaels in the third floor broom closet," James replied.

"Oh yea I remember that one. He said she was a good shag so I might have to take her up on that offer."

"She didn't offer anything just yet Padfoot. Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?"

"Past experience says that 'hoping to see you' directly translates to," Sirius made his best impersonation of a girl, "'ohh! shag me senseless Sirius Black'". With that he fake swooned.

"Alright, alright," James laughed at his friend. The pair received interested glances from passerby. A couple of girls giggled.

Sirius winked at them earning a couple more giggles from the group of girls.

"Do you know," Sirius tried to keep his voice casual, "if Ellena is going to be there?"

James rolled his eyes. "Rumor has it she will be attending, but don't try anything," he warned, "it might ruin my chances with Evans if you shag her best friend and then bolt."

"You shouldn't be worried. After all, you are the one who is absolutely convinced she wants you," Sirius pointed out.

"She does; but there are some things that are out of my control. You and your pride for instance. Man, I don't even know what your problem is. She let you off easy. Just be happy that she didn't go around the whole school telling everyone how she resisted the Black charm. Back. Off."

"She didn't resist the Black charm," Sirius said, appalled.

"I don't know. Sounds like it to me," James knew he hit a nerve despite Sirius's feigned nonchalance.

"She's merely playing hard to get. Anyways, I can see how shagging Ellena could work in your favor."

"Me shag Ellena?!" James was shocked.

"No, no, you stupid git. Me. I will shag her," Sirius explained, exasperated at his friend's dimness.

"Ha, in your dreams!" James scoffed.

"First off, yes, it has happened in my dreams," Sirius smiled impishly, "and secondly, I will. I'd even wager by tonight."

"Why don't you put your money where you mouth is, Padfoot?"

"How much are we talking?"

"5 Galleons."

"5? That's an insult my dear Prongsy! Let's make it 10."

"10 it is," and the two shook on it. "But how is this supposed to work in my favor again?"

"Ah that's the best part. We will both benefit from it! You see, I will get over this annoying fixation I have with Walker while you will get Evans in bed. It works like this: once I shag Walker, she will go back to Evans saying how amazing of a shag I am. Evans, in turn, will think that some of my…talents, if you will, have rubbed off on you and, well, you know…want to find out for herself. All in due course, Prongs." Sirius looked pretty pleased with his explanation.

"Sirius, I don't know where you get this logic from. I still don't see the benefit. My only relief is that I know for a fact that you won't get Ellena in bed with you."

Sirius looked positively crestfallen. "Prongsy mate! It's a foolproof plan! It's like I'm practically offering Evans on a platter for you!"

James just looked at him like he was deranged.

"Fine, you will see," Sirius muttered, put off.

"Just promise me you won't get too drunk and not be able to practice tomorrow."

"Oh so that's what you wanted me to promise," Sirius said thinking about their earlier conversation in the dining hall. "No can do. I can't promise I won't get too drunk. I can promise, however, that I will be in tip-top shape for the pitch tomorrow."

"Yea, that's what you said last time," James grimaced thinking about their last late night escapades that involved two bottles of firewhiskey and a pair of 6th year Ravenclaw girls.

"My word isn't good enough for you?" Sirius said in mock offence. James just looked at him from the rim of his glasses, giving him the look of a scolding professor.

"Ok, ok. I won't drink too much. I want to beat those nasty Slytherins as much as you do ya know."

They came up to the quidditch pitch and sat down on the grass, watching their classmates play pick-up quidditch. They were quiet for a while until James spoke up.

"I have two objections to you shagging Ellena. The first we already talked about. As for the second, in the off chance that you do shag her, I don't want her getting hurt when you bolt. Ellena is a really nice person and I don't think you should treat her like any other girl."'

"No, I wouldn't just shag and make a run for it. I would drag it on for a while and let her off gently."

James rolled his eyes. "Like that makes it any better. I consider her a mate-et. I don't want to see her upset over you," he then paused. Giving his best friend a glance from the corner of his eye, he decided to go on. "Have you ever thought that this so called 'fixation' you have on Ellena is there because you actually like her?"

"Of course I like her," Sirius said, brushing it off, not really liking where the conversation was going.

"No," James persevered, "even more than the other girls. Like how I like Evans?"

"Ha! Jamesy, Jamsey, Jamsey," Sirius said shaking his head," you are so naive. The only reason for my fixation is because she's the hottest girl in school and I have yet to shag her. Have you not seen her?" This is when Sirius began to get lost in his rant. "Her hair is this perfect shade of brown, like honey, and it's always so shiny. Sometimes when it catches the light you can see tints of gold. And her eyes. Her eyes are really something else. The way they light up when she smiles that perfect smile of hers is just. Wow. And her body is toned, yet I can't get over how breakable she looks. So tiny."

James couldn't help but smile at how obvious his friend sounded. "Just one question, Padfoot."

"Hmm?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Green. Why?"

"Which of our classmates has green eyes?"

"Ok, ok, I can see where you are going with this. The answer is Ellena Walker and that fact has nothing to do with my color preference."

"Suuuuure, Siri."

"Whatever. Are you down to start pregaming for the party?" Sirius quickly changed the subject.

"Why yes Mr. Padfoot," James said grandly.

"Good show old chap. Let us be on our merry way, then," Sirius answered in a similar manner.

And with that, the two sauntered off towards the castle.

Author's Note: Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that! To clarify a few things…The whole gang is in their 7th year, I will not be nice to Wormtail, and Ellena's name is pronounced Ellen-ah. James will call her by her first name more often than not, though Sirius prefers the less intimate use of her last name, Walker. Lilly will call her by her nickname Elle, just in case that confuses you. Also, she may seem like the perfect little heroine, but there's something more to her that you will find out about in later chapters. Read and Review.