One of Those Love Stories

Chapter 1 – First Day Impressions

Arabella Frell bent towards the Hogwarts Express sink counter and applied her finishing touches to her eyelashes, using her fateful mascara wands with an expertise manicured and L'Occitane smothered hand.

Actually, she realized, she had no need for finishing touches. In fact, she already looked quite hott. She had spent the time curling her hair that morning into ringlets, and usually by now the curls would be losing its' volume and turning limp. But to her surprise, they looked just the same as her hair did five minutes after she was finished!

But ditching her friends and running to the bathroom for finishing make up touches, was not the real reason she had scurried off. The real reason was that she wanted to make sure she looked presentable in front of…..Sirius Black.

Ah. Just the sound of his name gave her goose bumps.

She had been swooning over that boy for quite a while now……actually for seven years. Ever since she had first seen him that first day of Hogwarts in the Great Hall, her heart had been set on him. However, he obviously did not feel the same about Arabella.

It wasn't that Sirius didn't find Bella attractive or anything, of course he did. She was one of the first ten girls rated on the Hogwarts Hottest Babes list, in fact! But it was obvious Sirius just wasn't…….interested.

That Sirius Black was certainly a ladies' man. He would strut about, flirting and teasing and flicking that shiny black hair of his. But he actually had always been pretty single. Of course, he had had his girlfriends and dates. But they were never serious relationships. That caused Arabella to have some relationships as well. After all, she was a teenager! A hot one too! There were plenty of guys willing to date her so she'd might as well at least pretend she wasn't interested in him. But always, no matter what boyfriend she had or whoever guy she was dating, Bella had always secretly adored Sirius.

So, in sixth year she had created a good friendship with Sirius Black. Her friend James Potter, who had been family friends for a long time, had a huge crush on her best friend Lily Evans, and since Sirius was James' best friend, she had begun to become better friends with him.

So this summer, since she and Sirius were great friends now, Arabella decided to take it to the next step. This year, her last dominant year at Hogwarts, she would be making her move on Sirius Black. And she was determined.

With one last look at the mirror, Bella reached into her Dolce and Gabbana handbag and pulled out her one fame glory scent: Coco Chanel, Mademoiselle. So taking a few last spritz, she took a deep breath, and strutted out the door.

Confidence. Confidence is the key. Arabella reminded herself this, as she reached her train compartment. She could see her friends sitting there. Jessica was fluttering her eyelashes at Remus, Lily was crossing her arms and scowling, angry that she had to sit in the same compartment as James Potter, and Sirius was laying down on one of the benches, his arms crossed behind his head and his eyes closed, as if sleeping. He had taken up the whole bench just himself.

Arabella took one last breath and then she swung open the compartment door. Her friends looked up at her walking in, taking in the scent of her Chanel perfume and no doubt the way she looked so totally fab. Sirius even opened his eyes to gaze at the incomer.

Sitting down on the bench where Sirius was laying, she nudged Sirius' shoes, signaling him to make room for her, and smiled a dazzling grin. "Hey," she flicked her short hair, meaning to say to everyone but really only talking to Sirius.

"Hey, Bells," Sirius grinned back at her.

Arabella beamed at the way he said her familiar nick name.

"Hey Bella," she heard someone say to her.

However, the voice became muffled to her ears; distracted because of the way Sirius had looked at her. Since she was not answering, someone said, "Arabella. Arabella? Arabella!"

Earth to Bella. Earth to Bella. Don't get distracted!

Arabella's head shot in the direction of the voice. "Hey what's up?" she said quickly.

James rolled his eyes. "I was just asking you how your summer was. Especially since you didn't even say hello or give me a hug."

"Oh, sorry Jamie," she said, smiling a cheerful grin and standing up to give her friend a hug. "How was your summer?"

James kissed her cheek friendly and before answering, glanced at Lily to see if she was watching him. To his disappointment, she wasn't. "Oh….uh good. Yeah it was great,"

Arabella winked at him. "Seems like you've got a lot on your mind." She could tell James was swooning over Lily…as usual. Lily was a great girl too. It was good she actually had a guy liking her. It wasn't that no one liked Lily….she was quite pretty and all. But she was very…….demanding? Super smart? Snappy? Timid? Something like that.

Arabella was the first one to know about James liking Lily. Usually, James would always tell Sirius first but since he knew Sirius would go blab it out to the world, he tried to keep it a secret. But since Arabella had known James forever, she could tell something was up. The way he glanced at Lily every five seconds. The way he tried to get her attention in class. The way he signed up for head boy because he knew Lily would sign up also. James was not fooled from Arabella also, though. He could tell Arabella liked Sirius too. So since James' friends knew he liked Lily….it lead to Arabella telling her. And since Arabella's friends knew she liked Sirius….it lead to James telling Sirius. Huh. Chain reaction.

"It looks like you have too," James shot a knowing look towards Sirius.

She shrugged, batting her eyelashes innocently. "Maybe I have…maybe I haven't,"

James rolled his eyes and she beamed back at him. If he wanted to play this game…she would always win. This might be easy.