"Slug Club," a derisive voice crows. "Who would ever want to be in a club with a name like that?"
She turns around in spite of herself to see him lolling next to a pillar, an infuriating smirk curling the sides of his lips. "All right Evans?" he asks lazily, raising a hand to that infernal hair of his, perpetually untidy.
She wrinkles her nose, and she looks identical to the 11 year old girl he met that first day on the Hogwarts Express. He has to stifle a laugh. Evans could be pretty stuck up when she wanted to be. She doesn't answer him, but turns on her heel and continues her walk to class. Not surprisingly, he follows.
"Take one step closer Potter and you'll be sorry," she hisses.
This doesn't seem to faze him. He keeps a favorable distance, admiring the copper lights on her bright red hair, the way it dances behind her shoulders.
"I hear dear old Sluggy's having an exclusive Christmas Party, Evans. Where's my invite?"
She lets out a mirthless laugh and turns to face him. "You're joking Potter. You don't actually think I'd invite you? Why not ask Remus to be your date?"
"Not like he could ever get one otherwise," James replies smoothly. "Remus is pretty shy when it comes to the opposite sex." The smug grin lighting up his face now tells her he doesn't suffer from that ailment. She rolls her eyes.
"So…how bout it Evans?"
"How about what?" she snaps. How could he possibly think she would take him as her date anywhere?
"Go out with me."
"James Potter." He winces slightly. Her voice is raised and those incredible eyes of hers have narrowed. "Do I need to emblazon it all over the bloody school or something? I am never going to go out with you. Do yourself a favor and stop asking."
"Ah, you shouldn't say never Evans," he warns in a grave voice.
"Thanks, I'll… log that away." Giving him a look of exasperation mingled with pity, she saunters off.
He's still smirking however after she rounds a corner. That was the first time in weeks she hadn't hit him with a cold shoulder. No matter her insistence that he was wasting his time asking her out, she was starting to soften, he could see. This was only the beginning.
