-1Seren Chantrez studied herself in the full length mirror. Wavy chocolate brown hair sailed down her back, stopping at her waist. Sharp blue-green eyes blinked back at her from the mirror. "Should I wear my hair up or keep it all down?" She asked her reflection. The pale girl staring back at her just shrugged. Seren's full red lips curved into a slight frown at her own indecisive nature. Fate decided for her when Lily and Alice burst through the door of the Gryffindor 5th years dorm and yelled that Seren was going to miss breakfast.

It was only the second week of school and already the entire school was buzzing about the upcoming OWL exams. Seren wasn't worried. She may not have good study habits but she never really needed to crack open a book before so why start now? The Great Hall filled up fast after Seren sat down between Lily and Alice. Alice kept smiling and blushing every time Frank Longbottom looked her way. Seren rolled her eyes. It had only taken Frank five years to finally notice Alice always flirting with him. It had taken him another week to finally ask her out. Seeing Alice with a boyfriend and knowing that half the school wanted to date Lily made Seren wish that a boy would finally notice her. Sighing to herself she noted inwardly that she always did have Quidditch to keep her occupied. Seren was the second female to ever play Quidditch at Hogwarts. She could play Chaser but her usual spot was Keeper. Seren was torn away from her thoughts when four boys suddenly plopped down in front of her. She looked up to see none other than Sirius Black smirking at her.

"Hello Spinner." Sirius said to her. "And how is the sexiest Keeper in all of England this fine sunny morning?" Sirius shouted above the roar at the table. Seren rolled her eyes at his compliment.

"You know flattery gets you nowhere Black." She retorted.

"Well then how come you hugged Moony last night when he flattered you?" Remus, who was on Sirius' left choked on his eggs and turned red. "What was that Moony said last night?"

"He said," James spoke up, "That Seren was the Keeper of hearts not just Quidditch quaffels." Lily glared at James when he looked at her.

"Yeah, and then you proceeded to hug the life out of him." Sirius held up his fork as if he was going to poke Seren.

"Remus is special." Seren smiled.

"What makes him so bloody special?" Sirius frowned.

"Well for one thing, he is probably one of the few who talks to a girl without planning out four different ways to get her knickers off."

"There are four different ways?" Peter sounded shocked.

"None that would work for you." Seren muttered so no one else heard.

"I don't try to get in your knickers." Sirius sounded defensive.

"Well, you're my cousin and like my brother. And even if you weren't, you know I won't date anyone on the team, it would be too weird. Last but never the least of your worries, you know that any guy who did try an unwelcome advance would end up in St. Mungos. I would hate for anyone on the team to end up there seeing as how our first match is against Slytherin, who does have a pretty good team this year."

"Isn't the match set three weeks from now?" Alice asked, knowing that Frank Longbottom was a team chaser.

"Yes, but any damage I would do would take much longer than that to heal."

"That's my girl!" James stood and slapped Seren a high five, neither of them noticing Lily flinch. "You save up that aggression for the Pitch." He sat down smiling only to be met with another glare from Lily.

"Speaking of the Pitch..." Sirius said. "Have you heard the start of year speech from newly appointed Captain Brad Chessers yet?"

"Yeah, but I think the speech I got was a wee bit different from the one you got."

"Different how?"

"Well, he said he was going to try to use the fact that I'm a girl to distract the other teams."

"What's his strategy, having you flash anyone who comes near the hoops?" James laughed while Remus blushed deeper.

"Come on, we better get to class." Lily said a little too loudly.

The first class of the day was History of Magic. Seren took her usual place near the back with Lily, Alice and Frank while Sirius and the rest of the guys took the row behind them. Seren was right in front of Sirius and he saw her pull out an old, faded looking parchment. He took out a similar looking parchment. To anyone else it would look like just ordinary paper. But these two pieces were special. It was something that Seren's father (who by the way had been in Slytherin) had given her when she first came to school. It was called Enchanted Note Paper. If you write on one of the papers, the words would appear on the other paper for a few seconds. It was great for talking to friends while looking like you were just taking notes from the teacher. Since History of Magic was a note taking class, Seren usually spent this time chatting with the guys.

'Hey, are you guys going prowling next week?' Seren wrote.

'Yeah.' Seren recognized the writing as Sirius'. 'Why, you wanna go?' It was no secret to Seren that Remus was a lycanthrope or that the other three were animangi. Seren was also an animangus but her form was a brown garden spider (hence the nick-name "Spinner").

'No, I can't. I have prefect duties that night since Remus can't.'

'Are you going to Hogsmead this weekend?'

'Yeah, I have to get my mom a birthday gift.'

'Is anyone going with you?'

'No, why?'

'Just wondering.' They spent the rest of class talking about Quidditch and by the time class ended, Remus, Sirius, and Seren were the only ones awake. Seren and Remus had Advanced Ancient Runes next while everyone else went to Divination. On the way to class Seren heard Remus ask Sirius to borrow the Enchanted Note Paper. Seren remembered that today was a note taking day in class.

Seren got to class before Remus and took a seat in the back row. When she came in, she was surprised to see that Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape got up from their seats in the front and took the two seats right in front of her. Lucius looked over his shoulder and smiled at Seren. "Creepy." She thought. Her body tensed a little and she kept one hand on her wand in her robe pocket. Remus came in and sat beside her and she relaxed enough to take her hand off her wand. She took out her Note Paper and motioned for him to do the same just as the teacher began her lecture.

'You'll never believe this!' She wrote quickly.

'What?'

'Malfoy and Snape moved in front of me. They were sitting in the front but after I came in they moved!'

'I'm not worried.'

'You're not?'

'No. If they are planning something, you're quicker, and a lot more deadly with your wand than the both of them combined.' She looked over at him and smiled. 'I thought flattery got me no where.' He teased.

'I told you, you're special.' She almost laughed when he blushed. Before Remus had a chance to reply, Severus Snape very discretely turned and placed a piece of paper on Seren's desk. Seren whipped out her wand but Snape turned back around to face the front. Seren looked over at Remus who just shrugged. Slowly the note began to unfold itself and Seren could see very neat handwriting.

Dear Miss Chantrez,

I know we are from different houses and on opposing Quidditch teams but over the years I have developed an admiration towards you. I would like for you to accompany me to Hogsmead tomorrow afternoon. Please let me know your answer.

Signed, Severus Snape

Seren was at an utter loss. She had known Snape for several years due to the fact that he ran around with Lucius and Lucius was currently dating Narcissa Black, Seren's second cousin. For that reason alone, Snape was always seen at the pureblood gatherings at Malfoy Manor that Seren's father constantly drug her too. Seren would find Sirius in a small corner and the two would talk about Quidditch while the others partied. But Severus Snape had never so much as made eye contact with Seren. Remus gasped slightly when he leaned over and read what was written, bringing Seren out of her momentary trance.

'He... He asked you out?'

'Yeah.'

'You're going to say no, right?'

'I dunno.'

'YOU DON'T KNOW!'

'It might not be so bad.'

'Might not be so bad! This is Snape we are talking about here! That's like dating Grindelwald!'

'I doubt you could compare him to a dark wizard like Grindelwald.'

'You're right, that's insulting to Grindelwald.'

'I'm going to say yes. It would be nice to go on a date.'

'Nice?'

'Yeah, nice, and I'm a big girl Moony, I can take care of myself.'

'He's a Slytherin!'

'So is half my family, you don't seem to hold that against me or Sirius.'

'Snape is not Sirius! Sirius is reckless. Snape is dangerous.'

'That's not fair. You don't even know him.'

'Neither do you.' And after that, Remus put away his paper and wouldn't talk to Seren. On the way out of class Seren handed Snape a piece of paper. He didn't know it, but on that note was written: Yes, I would love to.

Seren soon found herself in the library trying to relax. She pulled out her diary and started to write.

I don't know why Remus was so angry when I said I might date Severus. It seemed like he was jealous but I've know Remus for years and he's never expressed that kind of interest in me. I almost wish he would. Remus is so different from any other boy I know. He is more sincere, not such a prick, and he understands me better than anyone. I do have feelings for him, but what am I supposed to do if he doesn't return my feelings? I can't just sit around and hope Mr. Right comes along. Maybe my knight in shinning armor is really a quiet Slytherin who hides behind his hair. If I don't give Severus a chance, I'll never know.

Seren was so deep in thought that she never noticed Remus, James, and Sirius walk straight over to her table.