"Zoey, this was a horrible idea," I shook my head grimly.

"Then why did you want to do it? There's no going back now," My best friend said passively. I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to dye my hair purple, but here I was, in the second floor girls' lavatory. It didn't help that I could hear Moaning Myrtle snickering from behind a closed stall door.

"Couldn't I just magic it back to its natural color?"

"No…remember what happened last time you tried to do your hair via magic? You had a nice little bald spot above your left ear, and it wasn't cute."

Zoey was always the sensible one. The voice of reason. She makes up for my lack of common sense. Why she continues to be friends with me, Sarah Moon, is beyond me. We met in our first year, we were partners in potions, and I set fire to her eyebrows somehow while making a potion that didn't even involve using a flame. Somehow, we became best friends out of that. A Ravennerd and a Huffleditz. An inseparable duo.

"Well that's why I thought you could do it!" I smiled brightly.

"Sarah, you got yourself into this mess, and the purple doesn't look bad. It'll match your eyes nicely. Besides, you'll stand out, like you always said you wanted to. Maybe you'll even catch the eye of a certain Black…" Zoey smirked and chuckled to herself. Who the hell actually chuckles? Zoey Landsman, that's who.

"Don't call him by his surname…it sounds so…so…racist! And I didn't really mean it when I said I wanted to stand out. I'm perfectly content with fading into the background…oh, Zoey look, the sink looks like a grape threw up all over it," I giggled at the sight of it. I looked up into the mirror, examining my damp purple locks. Maybe Zoey did have a point…they matched my green eyes nicely.

"Stop admiring yourself, we need to go. It's almost curfew and I need to go patrol,"

"Zo, you're too uptight. You should stop being a good little prefect and eat sundaes in the kitchen with me," I suggested. It's adorable, how serious she takes her job as a prefect. To most people, she comes off as if she has a stick up her ass, which sometimes, I even think there is one, but she's fun to be around when you get to know her.

"You should get going too," Zoey waved her wand and cleaned up the mess my hair dye had made. Oh sweet baby Jesus, I forgot there for a few glorious seconds that my hair is now, as the muggles would say, raw-plum. Well that's what it said on the box anyway.

"Fine, but next time you're going to break the rules with me," I stuck my tongue at her as Zoey and I parted ways. I kept running my hands through my now purple hair. I can't believe I actually did that. I'm going to regret this, hell I already am. I'm not bold or daring, and now my hair screams look at me! I'm a rebel 'cause I dye my hair fucking purple. It's so bold, you wish you could be this unique. When in reality, I'd rather not have everyone staring at me. I'm not the most popular person, I only have about one friend. And that's Zoey; she's the only person I trust. I'm perfectly okay with being average. That's why I'm such a fabulous Hufflepuff. I don't try to impress anyone, and I'm not expected to do anything extraordinary. I'm just nice to everyone, and keep to myself mostly. If everyone was like that, the universe would run a lot smoother.

"Maple Syrup," I said to the portrait and slipped into the common room. Now my objective here is to quietly enter the common room unnoticed, and quickly retreat to my dorm, where I will draw the curtains closed so no one notices my hair. Not that they could be 100% sure it was purple now anyway. It's still wet, so they might just think it's the light…I hope.

-x-

Beep! Beep! Wake up, you slag! Beep! Beep!

…

THUD.

Goddamn alarm clock. I smashed my fist into it, hopefully breaking it into oblivion. I should be getting up, as the world doesn't seem to want to wait for me. How selfish of it, I know. Groggily, I pulled myself out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom.

"Sweet baby Jesus," My hair stuck up at odd angles all over my head. Didn't help that it was purple either. To brush my hair or to not brush my hair…that is the question. Ah, screw it, I'm not brushing it. It'll probably all fall out anyway. I used a crazy amount of hair dye and bleach last night…my hair is as dead as Merlin. Quickly, I threw my hair up in a sloppy bun and hoped for the best. Time to fix my face. Foundation. Powder. Eyeliner. Mascara. Lip gloss. As materialistic as this is sounds, I seriously love putting on makeup. I feel it makes up for my lack of femininity in all the other aspects of my life.

"Sarah…what happened to your head?" Tiffany poked her head into the bathroom, her eyes still glazed over with crust. Tiffany Spaceman (that is pronounced spah-ch-eh-men) is the nicest (but also the most clueless) person on the planet. One time I convinced her I was blind, and she believed me for a good portion of third year. Bless her soul.

"Oh…if you blink too much, your hair turns purple. It's a very serious disease, ya'know? The medical term is fatuusitis." And you see, this is why I am going to hell. I feed the gullible lies like this. I laughed silently to myself. left the bathroom, and finished getting dressed. I'm almost done with the first semester of my sixth year at Hogwarts, and I still can't tie my tie. Ha. How do I expect to get a job if I can't even tie a tie?

-x-

I could feel their eyes, hear their quiet whispers, and I could just taste the judgment.

She's doing it for attention. It's so ugly. Attention whore. She's crying out to be noticed.

Hahahahahaha, just kidding. No one cares that much about what the hell I do to my hair.

"Help me tie my tie?" I sat down next to Zoey at the Ravenclaw table. All the other Claws have become accustomed to my presence at their table during meals. I have no friends in Hufflepuff house anyway. It's a shame I'm not smart enough, because I would love to be in Ravenclaw. Maybe I'd actually like the people I room with. Maybe they'd actually have brains instead of vacuous holes where one should be. It's people like my dorm mates that give Hufflepuff such a bad rep. They are all bimbos and, yes, I will admit, that I have ditzy moments, but I can actually have common knowledge at times. I room with three other girls, who all inhale more hairspray than oxygen. Don't get me wrong, I do care about my appearance (but obviously not that much, I mean come on, I dyed my hair purple) but these girls just devote their every once to it. As I so kindly tricked before, there is Tiffany Spacemen, who does the whole doe-eyed-naturally-flawless-blonde-hair-I'm-a-ditz-who-can-bat-my-eyelashes-please-love-me! thing without any effort. Then there's Delilah Mitchell, who is pleasant but her perfect little head is filled with saw dust. And that leaves Kennedy Cooper. The biggest bitch on the planet. She's catty, mean, and has fake red hair that she claims is "natural". How she got into Hufflepuff, the house of kindness, is beyond me. Tiffany and Delilah follow her around like lost puppies. Kennedy has a particular dislike with me, so I have a tendency to avoid her when possible. I'd rather not be around her, it's too much effort to dislike someone as much as she dislikes me.

"Wow. It's a lot brighter than I anticipated," Zoey said off handedly as she tied my black and yellow tie.

"Just say it. It looks horrendous and I should just go and shave it off," I hung my head in shame dramatically.

"No, why would I lie to you? I think it looks good, personally. It suits your bright personality. Maybe you'll come out of your shell now that your hair matches what's on the inside of Sarah Grace Moon,"

"I don't want everyone staring at me," I muttered.

"Well then why did you dye it purple?" Victoria Bennett, Zoey's dorm mate chimed in. I shot a very brief death glare.

"I don't know why! I was possessed by nargles!" I rolled my eyes, exasperated.

"What?" Victoria blinked at me, shook her head and went back to her porridge.

"Don't mind Tori," Zoey gave me a sympathetic look. "Oh look, the post is here," she looked up as what seemed like thousands of owls flittered into the great hall, packages and envelopes strapped to their little legs.

"Oh goodie…" I never really liked owls. They scare me to be honest, I feel like they're going to gouge my eyes out with their talons. A squat looking gray owl dropped a letter into my cereal. Prat. I picked up the envelope suspiciously, eyeing the thing with distaste. Now my breakfast is going to taste like mail.

"Give me that!" Zoey snatched the envelope quickly out of my hands and ripped it open. "YES!" She screamed, hugging me. I swear, this is the first time I have ever seen Zoey loose her composure and act like a teenager and not a mini adult. Must have been for everyone else too, because all eyes were on her. It must have been hard for them to look away, what with her jumping up and down screaming. What a sight.

"Zo, what's going on?" I looked up at her, confused.

"I can't believe it…I got in!" She beamed.

"Got in to what…?"

"Salem Witch Academy accepted me to study abroad there!" Wait. What? Zoey…studying abroad? When did she even apply for that? I racked my brain, for a memory or something. Oh! Over the summer…I think I remember Zoey telling me about this student exchange program, or something. Wait…study abroad…that means she's leaving me. ZOEY'S LEAVING ME TO FEND FOR MYSELF.

"When…when are you going?" I asked quietly.

"Next semester…I'll leave for America over Christmas break." I spat out my pumpkin juice all over the boy sitting across the table from me. Poor chap.

"What? Christmas break is in two weeks! Zo, you can't leave me!" I could feel tears prickle at the back of my eyes. I couldn't get through school without my Zoey. Who would I joke around with? Who would get me to actually do my homework? Who would dye my hair for me on a Thursday night? Who would I eat sandwiches with down by the lake in the spring time? No one. That's who. Because I don't have any other friends, because nobody else can put up with me and my bushels of bad habits.

"Sarah," Zoey sat back down next to me and looked directly in my green eyes with her brown ones. "You knew I applied for this….ah, who am I kidding? I knew you would forget. But anyway, Sarah, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it'll look really good on job applications…don't give me that look," She put a comforting arm around my shoulder.

"I suppose I can't deprive you from all of that…" I shoved a spoonful of (now mail flavored) cereal in my mouth as all the other Ravenclaws swarmed her, asking for details about her exotic trip to America. I couldn't tell her not to go, what kind of friend would do that? I'll just have to suck it up and make some friends. Or I can have no friends and just talk to myself, I mean I do that sometimes anyway.

"Stop looking so sad, you're making me feel bad."

"Zoey, how do you expect me to not be sad? My best and only friend is going to America in two weeks for a year," I sighed.

"I'll write you loads, and I'll be back before you know it."

"But who's going to tie my tie for me in the mornings?" I whined, while grinning, to break the seriousness.

"Oh, we'll find someone. How about a certain male that you've fancied for all of eternity. It could finally be your chance to talk to him," Zoey poked my forearm repeatedly while wearing this stupid smile on her face.

"Psh..I..I…," I sputtered. "I will not embarrass myself by asking him to tie my tie for me, and besides, I've talked to him before."

"Asking him to borrow a quill or having pretend conversations with him in inside that purple head of yours does not count, my dear."

"Bitch, sure it does," I glared at her. I half heartedly listened to Zoey talk excitedly about her trip, trying to not look miserable. My eyes (unintentionally, I swear) slowly drifted towards the Slytherin table. There he sat, in his graceful, mysterious, perfect-ness. Regulus Black. You see, what I don't understand why everyone with ovaries is in love with his brother, Sirius. Sure, Sirius was good looking, I won't deny that, but Regulus has this whole I'm-mysterious-and-I-don't-act-like-an-air-headed-git-plus-I'm-super-attractive-which-is-an-added-bonus thing going on. Of course, as Zoey so kindly stated before, me and him have never really had a legitimate conversation…except for this one time in first year, but I doubt he remembers that. I've (as Zoey would put it) fancied the pants off of Regulus since second year. Four years later, here I am, still infatuated with someone who doesn't even know I exist. That's alright though, I could never see me and him being friends. He's into the whole Slytherin, death eater, dark arts, thing (which apparently, I find super hot) and well…I'm a just a Hufflepuff. Despite how full of myself I am with my friends (well…friend,) I am quite shy and bashful around the opposite sex. Especially the attractive ones. With Zoey, I am witty, hilarious, and have comebacks for everything. With males? I don't know what to say. With them, I'm just a nervous fifteen year old girl (almost sixteen, in 5 months to be exact, incase you were wondering) with a shit load of butterflies.

"Sarah, let's go, I need to go to Arthimancy and you need to go to History of Magic," Zoey tugged on my sleeve. I gathered my things and started walking to class.

-x-

Author's Note

Alright, so here is my one and only disclaimer: I don't own shit. Except for Sarah of course. Oh, and if you have a thing with cussing…whether you think it's offensive, un lady like, trashy, or adult, I don't care. If that is the case for you, then this isn't a fic you would be interested in. Moving on, so what did you think? Can this even be called a pilot? Ha…that would make a good title for this chapter. I have a fuzzy vision on where this story is going to go, but that'll probably change. I have no idea how long this fic will be either. So, if you're still reading my nonsense babbling, thank you. I'll stop wasting your time now.