It All Started With…

"Alright, Evans?" Potter said from the door of my compartment. I nodded slowly, wondering why he had the nerve to talk to me. It was the beginning of 5th year, and I was sitting with my friends Alice and Mary. Suddenly Remus appeared at the door. Mary automatically adjusted herself. I stifled a giggle.

"You mind if we stay here, all the other compartments are filled?" Remus asked. I would say yes for him, but I still didn't like Potter and Sirius much. They were so full of themselves; asking out any girl and thinking they'll automatically get her to say yes, picking on people like big bullies and generally just showing off.

"Define 'we.'"

"Me, Sirius, James and Peter." I frowned slightly, but Mary took over.

"Of course, come on."

They all walked in and settled into their strange habits. Pettigrew seemed to be breathing in Potter's every word and movement. It was actually quite disturbing. Mary was talking to Remus about some new book or something. Black was flirting with Alice, who seemed about ready to punch him, right in the face. So I jumped in and told Alice I needed to talk to her about something. She mouthed 'Thank you!' After a while Potter and Black seemed to be going over a strange scroll. Whenever they got too loud Remus would clear his throat loudly and Potter would add, "Ohh…that's right, your furry little problem." I rolled my eyes.

"Uh…Remus…shouldn't we be going?" I asked, remembering that we probably had to do some rounds as prefect.

"Sure, let's go." We got yelled at for not being there right at the beginning and that all the shifts were filled, so they just went over some of the things we had to do when we got to Hogwarts and said we could be off. As we were walking back, the incredibly handsome Ravenclaw 5th year named Brett said hi and waved. I was kind of taken of guard and waved a little too late. He chuckled and went back into his compartment. My face was burning red. Remus caught up.

"Brett Williams? Really Lily?" he asked, right as we got in to our compartment. Potter seemed to perk up slightly, so I shook my head. Alice, Mary, Black and Pettigrew had fallen asleep. "Come on! You like him!"

"Brett Williams? He's the biggest jerk in the school."

"I assume you're not counting yourself and Black."

"You could do better."

"You could mind your own business." He held his hands up in surrender and turned away towards the window. Remus kept pestering me about him until I finally gave in. I told him about how he had flirted a lot last year, but I never really took much notice, until the summer, when he had kissed me. I could tell that Potter was listening, but he didn't interrupt again. I wondered why he thought Brett was a big jerk; as far as I knew, he was very nice to everyone. Finally we arrived at Hogwarts; after the Sorting and the feast we could finally sleep. I had feeling I'd have no trouble; I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, stopping me right before the Fat Lady. Whoever it was they pulled me aside. I looked up and strangely enough, it was Potter.

"Evans, are you serious about liking this guy?" he asked, his hand was nervously playing with his robes. I raised my eyebrows, wondering why this mattered so much to him, but I nodded. It's not like Potter likes me like that, we're not even friends! We always try to rip each other's heads off! But he seemed very nervous.

"Yes…"

"He's no good. I'm not kidding, and I'm not trying to be a jerk. He's horrible to girls…you would know that if you knew anything about him…" he said, her voice thick with implications.

I scoffed, "I know him. Well enough… I know the important things."

"Oh yeah? I bet I can find some important things that you have no idea about!" he said. I knew that involved him spying, but I couldn't resist a good bet.

"Fine. You have three days." With that, I walked into the common room and up to my four poster bed, immediately falling asleep.

The next three days, between classes James would come up to me and say all sorts of things about Brett. I had written letters to him over the summer and I knew most of it from the replies. So when I told Potter I already knew, he asked for proof. Of course he did. First it was, "He killed a frog!" Ohh…no…it's the end of the world. Then it was, "He plays Quidditch, you hate Quidditch." I most certainly did not hate Quidditch, I hated when people like Potter and Black made it a way to get girls. He seemed to be getting desperate after awhile, not finding any dirt. But I finally got it out of him when we were sitting in Potions: why he had a problem with Brett. Apparently, in 3rd year, Brett had pushed Potter off of his broom, and he ended up breaking his leg and 3 ribs. I weirdly had forgotten all about this, and that Brett had been the one to do it.

"It could have been an accident."

"But it wasn't."

"Okay! Okay, you win the bet! What do you want from me? And even if you do have a grudge on this guy, why does that affect my dating him?"

"Because! You only like him based on looks!" My temper flared. HOW DARE HE?

"Excuse me? How dare you even assume that?"

"It's true!"

"How would you know? If that were true…then I would have been dating you by now!" His expression changed from anger to a grin…an almost cocky grin.

"You think I'm good looking?"

"I did not mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?"

"What? Ughhh! Just do me a favour, and shut up!"

"Fine…" he said, facing Professor Slughorn, but then he turned back, "Hey Evans…I know what I want from you. A date." He smirked.

"Ughhhhhhh!" I exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly.

"Is there a problem, Miss Evans?"

"Yes!" I yelled, but James just chuckled.