Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling.

CHAPTER TWO

Nikki was sitting by herself in one of the many train compartments of the Hogwarts Express the next morning, waiting for the train to start its journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She took out a book from her bag, hoping that nobody would come into her compartment and bother her. Just as she was about to start reading, the door slid open, and a girl with humungous blue eyes and long, straggly blonde hair, popped her head in.

"Nikki!" It was Lanie Lovegood, one of the girls that Nikki shared her dormitory with. Lanie's eyes were open so widely with excitement that Nikki was afraid her eyeballs were going to pop out of their sockets. She rushed into the compartment and pulled Nikki, who was still sitting in her seat, into a bone-crushing hug. "How are you? You look great, as usual. Did you have a good summer? Mine was brilliant! I went to Egypt with my brother. They had the most amazing…" Nikki was looking at Lanie, but she really wasn't listening to what she was saying. Over the years she had roomed with her, Nikki came to realize that Lanie said a lot about nothing at all and learned how to tune out her words.

After enough time had passed, Nikki decided to snap back to attention before she completely zoned out. She just caught Lanie saying, "And I just saw who the new Head Boy for this year is too!"

"Who is it?" Nikki asked her curiously. Ever since her conversation with VJ the night before, she really wanted to know who had gotten the position, especially considering that she was a Prefect and would be working with whoever it was for the rest of the year. The four male seventh year Prefects, one from each of the Houses the school was divided into, were Anthony Chang of Ravenclaw, Remus Lupin of Gryffindor, Amos Diggory of Hufflepuff, and Peter Parkinson of Slytherin. She really didn't want the Head Boy to be from Slytherin. She couldn't stand them.

Lanie looked at Nikki and said, "James Potter."

Nikki stared at Lanie with a blank expression and then repeated, "James Potter?"

"Mhm," Lanie nodded.

"Well that was unexpected," said Nikki.

"Yeah," Lanie agreed. "I was hoping it would be Remus."

"I'm sure you were," Nikki knew that Lanie had had a crush on Remus for years.

"Mmmm…Remus," Lanie said dreamily, and then shook her head. "But, I mean Potter is captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And he's really smart. And popular. And good looking."

"I guess he'd be good," Nikki shrugged indifferently and then a thought came to her mind, "Oh, isn't Lily Evans Head Girl?"

"Yes, I think she is actually," Lanie replied.

"Is Potter still madly in love with her?" she asked with a wry smile.

"So I've heard."

"This should be really interesting. I think I'm going to go to the meeting early. I don't wanna miss any of the drama!" Nikki quickly put on her school robes and headed to the Head's compartment. On her way there, another compartment door opened and she was greeted by a pale, sandy-haired boy with bright brown eyes.

"Oh, hi, Nikki," Remus Lupin said in a very friendly voice. Looking at his smiling face, Nikki understood why Lanie and other girls in the school liked him so much.

"Hello, Remus," Nikki smiled back. "How was your summer?"

"Not bad. How was yours?" he asked as they walked together to their Prefect meeting.

"Not terribly exciting," she replied. "So I heard that one of your friends is going to be our Head Boy."

"Yep," he said with a grin. "It came as quite a shock to all of us."

"Not a bad shock, I'm sure," Nikki said with a knowing smile. Remus, James, and their other two friends, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were known to be the biggest pranksters in the school, even giving themselves a name: The Marauders. "You guys will be able to get away with all sorts of things now, eh?"

"I don't know about that," Remus said. "Lily is Head Girl. It'll be hard to get anything past her."

"Yeah, that's true." Working with Lily as a Prefect for the past two years, she knew that Lily had foiled many of the Marauders' plans for pranks - except for when they were on Slytherins, of course. When they got to the Head's compartment and opened the door, the first thing Nikki could see was Lily's long mane of red hair. She was sitting at the front of the room, poring over some notes. Nikki noticed her Head Girl badge was pinned neatly on her robe.

Nikki took a seat in the back and surveyed the room for familiar faces. She saw Peter Parkinson, Narcissa Black and some younger Slytherin Prefects all seated together, looking very arrogant and haughty. Amos Diggory was seated near the front of the room, trying to look very dignified, although Nikki thought he looked rather pompous. Remus took a seat next to her and before long, Anthony Chang had entered the room and taken the seat on the other side of her.

"Does Lily know that James is Head Boy?" Nikki asked Remus quietly.

"Yeah," he replied in an equally low voice. "We bumped into her before we got onto the train. James had his badge pinned on his robes and when she saw it her face turned really red."

"Oh," Nikki said with wide eyes.

"James's face turned a bit pink as well," Remus continued, "and me and Sirius had to walk away really quickly to keep from laughing. I dunno if she said anything to him after we left." With those words, Nikki saw James enter into the compartment. His hair was the same as it always was: jet-black, and going up in all directions. Nikki watched as the bespectacled boy, who seemed to notice nobody in the room except for Lily, walk up to the front of the room and take a seat next to her. Lily acknowledged his presence and started to discuss something with him in a soft voice. Nikki noticed that James looked very serious and was unusually quiet. She glanced at Remus and saw that he was trying to suppress a smile.

"What's so funny?" Nikki whispered to him.

"He's trying too hard," Remus said with a grin, looking up at James.

"How was the meeting?" Lanie asked Nikki when she returned to her compartment.

"Pretty uneventful," Nikki replied as she slumped down into her seat and closed her eyes.

"Was Remus there?" Lanie inquired enthusiastically.

"Mhm," Nikki mumbled, eyes still closed.

"Ooh. How did he look?"

Nikki shrugged indifferently. "Fine, I guess."

"What was he wearing?" Lanie asked.

"Er…" Nikki finally opened her eyes and looked at Lanie with some annoyance, "School robes?"

"He looks so good in those," Lanie said in her dreamy voice.

"Right," Nikki said and closed her eyes again. A few minutes later she heard the compartment door open.

"Oh, hi VJ," she heard Lanie say.

"Hey, Lanie," VJ replied and Nikki felt him plop next to her.

"So, Chang just told me that Potter is Head Boy," VJ said.

"Mhm," Nikki replied lazily.

"Well, I'm just glad it's not anyone from Slytherin or Hufflepuff. Especially Diggory. I would never hear the end of it," he said.

"So, VJ," Lanie began to say, "I heard that you were going out with Dana Abbott."

Nikki immediately opened her eyes and stared at her cousin in surprise.

"Where'd you hear that?" VJ asked Lanie, looking equally surprised.

"I have my sources," she replied vaguely.

"No, I'm not," VJ said, and then, added, "Although I wouldn't mind…"

"Yeah right," Nikki laughed. "If your mum found out that you had a girlfriend…"

"Well, there's no way she could find out unless you told her now, is there?" VJ retorted.

"I guess not. But…you're not gonna ask Dana out, are you?" Nikki asked him with a repulsed look on her face.

"Dunno," VJ shrugged. "Maybe."

"Oh please," Nikki scoffed. "As if she'd say 'yes'."

"Why wouldn't she?" VJ asked, looking affronted.

"Why would she?" Nikki asked back.

"Okay, Nikki," Lanie interrupted. "It's because he's your cousin that you can't tell what other girls think about VJ. Now, as an 'other' girl, I can say that he's smart, good looking, funny, and the fact that he's the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain doesn't hurt either."

"Gees, Lanie," Nikki said with mild disgust. "Why don't you just go out with him if you think he's so great?"

"Ha ha," Lanie said sarcastically. Her expression turned dreamy again and said, "You know that Remus is the only one for me."

"Okay then," VJ said, looking highly uncomfortable. "I think I'll be off. I'll see you guys at the Feast tonight."

After the students arrived safely at school and the Welcome Feast was over, they all started to head to their dormitories. Because the Prefects were to report back down in half an hour for a quick meeting with the Heads, Nikki had to unpack her trunk as quickly as she could. When she reached her dorm, her other roommates, Terri Boot and Marcia Belby were already inside. Lanie usually took ages to get up to her room, always bumping into someone that had some type of gossip to share.

"Hey, Nikki," Terri, a tall, thin girl with brown curly hair said. "You have a Prefect meeting soon, right?"

"Yes," she replied, trying to organize some of her things.

"Can you do me a favour?" she asked.

"No, Nikki, don't listen to her," Marcia interjected, her chubby cheeks looking very flushed from doing a minimal amount of physical activity. She looked at Terri with disapproval and said, "She wants you to find out if Amos has a girlfriend."

"Oh," Nikki said, looking up at the two girls.

"I just wanna know," Terri said to Marcia defensively, while pushing up her glasses.

"Yeah, so that you can cry all night when you find out, right?" Marcia said sternly, her short blond hair wisping around her face. Nikki knew this conversation wasn't going to end well...or quickly.

"Yeah, okay if I find out I'll let you know," Nikki said as she swiftly escaped from the dorm, desperately trying not to burst out in laughter. She could still hear Marcia telling Terri off, asking her how she could like such a "pompous ass". Her roommates, she thought, were very comical—without meaning to be. Terri and Marcia were complete opposites. Terri was tall, and Marcia was short. Terri was thin, and Marcia was chubby. Terri was very shy, and Marcia was very outspoken. Terri was in love with Amos Diggory, and Marcia hated his guts.

As Nikki made her way to her meeting, she spotted another boy that many girls were in love with. Sirius Black, arguably the most handsome student in the entire school (and some would further argue—in the entire school's history), was surrounded by a group of giggling girls. She could tell he enjoyed being the center of attention, as his gray eyes continuously scrutinized the laughing creatures around him. As she passed by, she could see him run his hand through his perfectly set black hair, and laugh out loud. Nikki shook her head and kept walking by. If there was one thing she had in common with Marcia, it was that she couldn't stand girls who swooned over guys—especially bigheaded ones.

"I think Anthony Chang is sweet on you."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Nikki asked her cousin later that night, while they were both lounging around in the almost empty Ravenclaw common room. There was a fire burning, but no heat was emanating from it. Nikki and VJ were sitting on the oversized navy blue plush couches around it, munching on some sweets. "How do you know that?"

"Well," VJ started to say, "he started to ask these me all these questions about you."

"Like what?" Nikki asked.

"Oh, this and that," VJ said airily. "But anyways, I told him that you were engaged."

"You told him WHAT?" Nikki yelled at her cousin.

"Look," VJ said sternly. "There's no need for Chang to be having weird thoughts about you."

"So you told him I was engaged?" she yelped. "You jackass! Everyone in the school is going to find out!"

"Good," he said. "Now at least nobody will bother me anymore about you."

"Anymore?" Nikki asked him, suddenly feeling very curious. "You mean other people have asked about me?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Like who?"

"I can't remember everyone," VJ replied, clearly not enjoying the subject as much as Nikki was.

"Have there been that many?" Nikki asked. Although she had been asked out occasionally by the boys over the past few years, she had no idea that some had been trying to get to her through her cousin.

"Why do you look so surprised? I'm sure you're very aware of the fact that you are the best looking girl in our house, and one of the better looking girls in the school," he said.

"I didn't really think that…"

"Yeah well, neither did I. You look just like my sister so I just gather this information from the other guys," he said indifferently.

"But I kinda like Anthony," Nikki lied, looking at her cousin for a reaction.

"Don't be ridiculous," VJ said. "You know you can't go out with any of these guys. Your parents will kill you."

"But how will they know unless you tell them?" she asked, using his words.

"Because I will tell them," he replied.

"You wouldn't." Nikki looked daggers at him.

"Wanna bet?" he said sarcastically. "These guys aren't good for you, Nikki. I know them."

Nikki felt at that moment like kicking her cousin in the face. She hated it when people talked to her a condescending manner.

"Just wait…" she said angrily. "I'll get you back for telling Chang I was engaged."

"Yeah, right. Good, one, cuz'." VJ laughed and got up. "Well, I'm going to bed. See ya."

"Oh hey, Nikki, congratulations. I heard you were engaged."

Nikki clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth. "I am not engaged."

"Oh," a very confused Remus said, "but Anthony told me that your cousin said…"

"VJ is an idiot." Nikki said tersely. It was the next morning and Nikki was making her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was still angry with VJ, but then relaxed as a sudden realization of how to get back at her cousin crossed her mind. "Actually, he only said that because he was jealous."

"Jealous of who?" asked Remus.

"Of me," she replied matter-of-factly. "See…there was this guy who liked me over the summer…and VJ, well…I think he liked him."

"Er…" Remus said, looking extremely baffled. "You mean…"

"Yeah." Nikki nodded her head and said gravely, "VJ's gay."

A/N: I know I haven't updated in years...but I feel like I've got to make a lot of changes before I can finish the story so I'm just editing the previous chapters and reposting them. Hopefully it won't take too long before I get to Chapter 15!