(S.V.P)

Finally the door to the Potions class opened and a man with greasy black hair that fell about his head like curtains who ushered us in silently and once we had all found our places he walked in to the classroom, cloak billowing, and the door swung shut behind him. As he was walking down the right hand side of the desks he said in a serious fashion,

'There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class!'

I turned to Ginny and said in hushed tones 'well if that doesn't make me realise what the rest of this years Potions lessons are going to be like, nothing will!' After that we burst into fits of giggles!

'Scarlett! You're so funny! And I live with Fred and George…'

We were stopped abruptly by the fact that nobody else was laughing instead they were facing the front looking at the teacher; who, incidentally, was looking down his long hooked nose at us.

'Ahh I see that Miss Weasley and Miss Paiper are enjoying themselves a little too much, tell me Miss Weasley: is it genetic for the youngest members of your family to break the rules?'

'NO NOT REALLY! WE JUST ALL HAPPEN TO DISLIKE YOU!' She shouted at him from our middle row.

After that outburst I happened to catch my sister and another boy out of the corner of my eye who looked as if they were about to jump out of their seats and kill her – yikes!

'Well, well, well lets see shall we? Ahh yes why don't I take 30 points from Miss Weasley for shouting out and disrespecting me in my own lesson, from Miss Paiper I'm going to deduct 10 points for causing disruptions at the beginning of my class! Ohh dear girls looks like Mr's Potter and Weasley's little "incident" and 40 points, each, deduction has put Gryffindor into minus points on the first full day back ~ I do hope you're pleased with yourselves!'

'SEE! THIS IS WHY WE HATE YOU!' Ginny screamed back at him… Under her breath…

'Ginny! Shush! How many more points do you want us to loose? Just stay quiet until the end of the lesson and then maybe we can go and find Fred and George, yes? For me?' I was really begging her, but I just didn't want Alyce to have the satisfaction over me of being the better student, twin, whatever she thought she was!

'Okay I promise, for you and the reputation of Gryffindor, I will keep my thoughts and feelings to myself.' She hissed at me, so as we didn't get caught again.

'Thank you' I smiled at her – finally one battle today that I had won!

With that we got on with the rest of the Potions lesson, just waiting until we could accost Fred, George, Ron or even Harry and tell them how disgraceful, and disgusting, a teacher Snape really was!

As soon as Snape dismissed us we leapt out of our chairs and, consulting our timetables and luckily a prefect, we made it to Greenhouse number 3 with five minutes to spare! Once the rest of the class had arrived a stout women came out from the Greenhouse door and ushered us in – this teacher was a heck of a lot nicer then Professor Snape – she then went ahead to tell us the structure of the hour lesson we had in front of us; I could really see myself mastering this subject! Once we were let lose onto the plants in question something, or to be more precise someone, caught my eye as the greenhouse we were in was so close to the flying pitch that we could almost smell the wood from the brooms! I finally bought myself to turn my whole head to the pitch and saw that both Harry and Ron were flying high above the trees on brooms; my thoughts quickly turned from the plant pot in front of me to Harry biting my lip I went into one of my, normal, day-dream states…

Wow Ginny is so lucky to be close to a guy like him; is it really wrong that I have a soft spot for him too? I mean, Scarlett, just look at him! The hair, the eyes, the smile… Gosh I'm a sucker for a smile… But I guess I'll always have to let Ginny have him – after all her brother is his best mate… Hey! That gives me a very good idea! Scarlett Victoria Paiper you are a genius!

I quickly came back into reality because I felt Ginny poking me and Professor Sprout asking me why my plant pot was still the same as it had been 10 minutes ago ~ it can't have been that long surely? ~ once she had bustled off to the other students further away from us Ginny turned sharply towards me and asked me outright:

'So, which one of them have you been eyeing up then? Harry or Ron? I really hope for our friendship it's neither of them… But come on spit it out!'

'Erm… no one! I wasn't eying up any of the boys! I was just somewhere a little further away, that's all… I'm telling the truth OK?' I was of course lying, but if the 11 years of living with my mum has taught me anything it's this: as long as you don't blush or move your eyes to the left then you're safe!

'All right, I'll believe you.. For now!' Ginny replied and with that she helped me with my blasted plant pot and my lie was forgotten… After a moment or two of silence however, I couldn't help but let Ron slip into my mind. I knew perfectly well what Ginny had just said but she couldn't tell what I was thinking… Suddenly Professor Sprout was calling us all back to our senses, as the lesson had finished, and with that we packed up our things and left the greenhouse. As soon as I turned the corner to go back up to school I walked straight into someone…

'S-S-Sorry!' I stammered at them

'Hey there's no need to apologise! I do it all the time! Have you just had Herbology with Professor Sprout?' they said smiling down at me

'Yeah I have, why do you ask?' I replied chancing a look up at them… 'Ron?'

'Hey there Scarlett! How you finding your first day?' He said with a little smirk on his face

'It's going great thanks, yeah. Hey? Fancy a walk up to the common room?' I asked with a twinkle in my eye, this was going to be a breeze!

'Yeah sure! Why not? Coming Gin?' He said whilst looking over his shoulder at his sister

'No thanks, think I might head back and talk to Harry and leave you two love birds to it!' she said with an evil smirk on her face – no, no she cannot be turning into Alyce not now!

'Excuse me? What are you on about? Ginerva Weasley get back here this second! Sorry Scarlett I've got to give my sister a massive talking to! Be right back!' with that he ran off leaving me to look at the floor and contemplate what had just happened…

I really needed the loo so with that I left Ron to sort out his 'Ginny-problem' and went to the girls toilet, when I went back outside to see if Ron and Ginny had finally come to their senses I was met with a very big surprise… another girl was standing with her back to me, she had long bushy brown hair (that was singed very badly at the ends) and looked like she was bossing him around. So with that I sidled up to her to ask her what her problem was

'OI! What the heck do you think you're doing being mean to Ron like that?'

'I beg your pardon? If you don't mind I was talking to my best mate about something, so would you kindly clear off and talk to your Slytherin friends. Thanks!' She snarled at me

'M-M-My Slytherin friends? What are you on about? I'm in Gryffindor, like you, my twin on the other hand is a Sly…. OH no what has she done to you?'

'Seriously? You're in Gryffindor? Well in that case I apologise for being mean to you. Your sister decided it would be hilarious to try and transfigure my hair into a cat! Luckily for her, it completely backfired so all I'm left with is burnt hair…'

'I'm so sorry, let me make it up to you please?' I pleaded with her. Our flying lesson was going to be great!

'Aww you are kind, how's about you sit with Harry, Ron and myself at lunch, and Ginny of course, sound good?' She smiled back at me

'Yup that sounds perfect! Ron? You sorted things out with Ginny yet?' I asked shyly, not really wanting to know the answer…

'Scarlett, you have nothing to worry about! She was just messing around, everything is perfectly fine.' He returned my smile with grace

'Well that's wonderful news! Anyway I have to go get ready for my first ever flying lesson see you lot later, bye!' and with that I ran off up to the school to dump my books and get ready for lesson number three.

(A.H.P)

Someone was shaking me. I had laid down on the sofa in the common room after gathering my stuff for the day. I let my eyes flick open, I had fallen asleep! I must have been more tired than I had realised.

'Wake up!' said the person shaking me 'you'll be late for lessons.' I shot up into a sitting position, it was Blaise.

'thanks' I said 'where's Pansy and Draco?'

'already going to our lesson, I forgot my quill I just came back to pick it up, good job I did.'

'how long have I got to get to class?'

'not long, if you're lesson is close by you'll be okay but if it's not then you're done for.' he said

'I have potions' I told him. I got up and checked the nearest mirror if I looked okay, my hair was a bit of a mess but that's not too bad. I ran my fingers through it which flattened it slightly.

'oh that's easy you can get there in a few minutes' he told me 'one second, I'll just get my quill and I'll tell you where to go.' I nodded and he ran up the staircase towards the boys dormitories I followed him up the stairs a little bit.

'aren't you going to be late for class?' I called to him

'it's okay, I know a short cut' he told me through the door, 'you can come in if you like.'

I pushed open the door and stood in the doorway looking around. Blaise was rummaging in his trunk at the end of his bed, Draco's bed was beside his and next to Draco's was Crabbe's and Goyle's beds. Blaise's bedside table was by far the most interesting, it had a model of his quidditch team hovering over the things on it, I couldn't see which team it was. There was a dismantled sneak-o-scope, a photograph of him and three other people, two of them I assumed was his parents, the other a quite a lot younger sister, an alarm clock, a pair of omnioculars, a comb embossed with the Slytherin snake, a mirror which looked strangely like a foe glass and a large, green spell book. The dullest of the bedsides was clearly a draw between Crabbe's and Goyle's as they had nothing on theirs at all. While Draco's had a jumble of items scattered over it, none of which were identifiable from this far away.

'Ah-ha there it is' Blaise said pulling a long blue peacock feathered quill from his trunk with some extra ink. He put them both in his bag and swung it onto his shoulder. He gestured me out of the door way and we left the common room together.

'right, go down that way' he said pointing to the passageway heading away from the great hall 'and then turn right on the last turning. If you hurry the class will still be outside, and you better hope they will be'

'thanks' I told him again and left to the direction he had pointed. He left to the other direction behind me. I found the class just where he had said, outside was a small sea of black cloaks with pieces of red and green on them and there without fail was my sister and her little ginger friend talking quietly against the wall nearby the door. Her friend was the first to spot me and alerted Scarlett of my presence. After Scarlett turned around especially to give me evils she turned back to her friend again who was also looking angrily at me. I didn't have a clue what Scarlett had told her but I didn't care, at all.

Just then Snape's classroom door opened slowly and he appeared in the door frame, I stood in line quickly and followed everybody inside. I sat with some of the Slytherin boys who were a lot less annoying than the girls as they seemed to enjoy talking about quidditch rather than their hairstyles. Though I still never joined in and much preferred just to work. I wont bore you with the details of the lesson but basically it was a mixture of bad evils from Scarlett, a potion that I made 'almost perfectly' according to Snape and the fact that Snape clearly preferred me to Scarlett, as he seemed to prefer all of the Slytherins to the Gryffindors.

Transfiguration wasn't quite so successful, we were supposed to be changing a light brown piece of wood to another colour. Transfiguration was never really 'my thing' but I did manage to make it lighter eventually and after that I managed to tinge it with a hint of yellow. Even if I was aiming to make it green, I got a 4 out of 10 for it. I had been asked to sit next to Luna Lovegood as there were no other seats, she seemed to have forgotten the train journey and constantly talked to me, it was good payback for saying her dad's magazine was rubbish but I thought I had paid for that on the train.

When break time finally arrived I felt a new sensation of coming back to life. As soon as I could I escaped from the classroom and the torment of Lovegood, I headed towards the common room. I reached the clock tower and headed towards the stairway when I saw him, I tried to avoid his eye and get away but he saw me.

'Alyce?' Draco called to me, I stopped and turned to face him forcing a smile to my face.

'hi'

'hey, where are you heading?' he asked me happily

'oh umm, I was going to drop my things off in my dorm' I told him

'okay, well after that do you want to hang out with the others and myself?' he asked.

'yeah, sure' I said, knowing that Pansy and Blaise would be there to.

'I'll come with you now' he told me,

'oh… okay' I said reluctantly, I read somewhere that boys can't get into the girls rooms at least, I hope that was true. He nodded me in the right direction and we continued to walk to the common room,

'so how's your first day going?' he asked me friendlily,

'uh… good I suppose, the lessons aren't too bad, the people are, but I can deal with them I suppose' I told him simply

'who's getting on your nerves?'

'oh well there's that Luna Lovegood girl, that I mentioned at the feast. I had to sit next to her in transfiguration. And what do you know about that ginger girl in Gryffindor? The one that's hangs around with my twin?' I asked

'Weaslette? not much about her, but all those other ginger ones are her elder brothers. They're bloodtraitors.' he said with a deep air of dislike, I decided not to ask exactly what they had done.

'well she shouted out at Snape earlier, she thinks she's funny or something, but she's really not'

'like the rest of them then' he said 'oh and look who it is' he stopped in his tracks and wrapped his hand around my arm, I stopped too and looked at how easily he had managed to fit his hand around my wrist,

'who?' I asked now looking around.

'you see that girl over there?' he asked taking his hand off of my wrist, 'the one with the frizzy brown hair?'

'yeah?'

'well she's one of their best mates, a mudblood called Granger'

'she's called Granger?' I asked laughing slightly

'that's her surname' he told me, of course I never thought of that,

'what is with the hair? It's like she's been dragged through a bush backwards' I laughed 'its like a bird's nest… ever wanted to put a bird in there? See if it makes itself a home?'

'someone tried that last year, they failed but it was still hilarious' Draco told me

'maybe a cat next time?' I laughed, Draco moved closer to me and whispered into my ear devilishly

'or maybe we could just turn it into a cat? If you don't want to get seen feel free to hide' it took me a moment to realise whether he was joking or not, but it was soon made clear as Draco mumbled a spell to his wand and it shot a purple flash of light at the back of the girl's head. It never quite worked, the girl's hair singed at the ends, Draco had faltered in his spell and caused it to go wrong.

The girl span around with an angry expression on her face, she set her eyes onto me. Suddenly I realised that I still had my wand by my side, and Draco had hidden his behind his back. Both of us were typically in hysterics. She span her back again and practically ran away in the opposite direction after casting us both evil looks. Draco and I soon slowed down our laughing, now in a much more friendly mood and continued towards the common room.

'so how's your day gone so far?' I asked him.

'well, charms was terrible, boring… and then we had a flying lesson with the Gryffindors, so you can guess how that went.' he said simply

'are you always so negative?' I laughed

'kind of,' he told me 'does that bother you?'

'nah, you're okay' I told him. We reached the common room and went inside. Draco waited at the bottom of the girls staircase as I went to drop off my potions and transfiguration books, moments later I joined Draco again.

'so where are the others?' I asked him,

'near the lake' he said, 'walk with me?' he asked jokingly while offering his arm in what I hoped was still a joking way. It's times like these I'm glad I'm known as a tomboy

'you're kidding right?' I asked him laughing and pushed past his arm 'I don't do that sort of thing' again I got away with it without hurting anyone's feelings, I think… he put his arm down and shrugged it off. We wandered towards the lake where we spotted Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle. Blaise and Pansy were talking together while the other two seemed to be trying to whistle on strands of grass, Draco lead me over to the others. I sat down next to Pansy who greeted me with a nod and continued talking to Blaise. I was over heating in the sun already, I put my hands a distance behind me and leant back turning my face up at the sun and closing my eyes.

Soon I felt the heat effect me and turned back to face the water but as I opened my eyes I immediately felt somebody else's eyes on me, I didn't think twice to know who it was I looked at Draco, and as expected his eyes were on me, what was with him? He was cool a few minutes ago, now he seemed to have more fire in his eyes than he had done before. He was sitting in the same way as me with his arms outstretched behind him and his legs extended in front of him.

'you look a bit hot' Pansy told me, I hadn't realised she was watching us, how odd this must look…

'I'm overheating' I told her, now turning to face her.

'well take off your cloak or something' she told me,

'good idea' I said slowly, I stood up and removed my cloak followed by my jumper, then folding them up I sat back down in the same way I had before, Draco was still watching me. I didn't want to think about what Draco may have been thinking at that moment, but his expression hadn't changed at all. It was still a slight smirk with his eyes fixed directly on mine. I could feel the slight refreshing breeze moving my blouse now and so I was a lot more relaxed. Again I turned away from Draco, this time looking up at the sky; I caught a few words of Pansy's and Blaise's conversation,

'so who's going out now?' Blaise asked

'Shane Arturo and Meryl Antonia, they were talking about it in our dorm last night' Pansy told him

'which house?' Blaise continued

'Slytherin, they're in the 4th year now, they were the ones who told us the password to the common room at the beginning of the year'

'the blonde girl?' Blaise confirmed

'yeah, but honestly Blaise, is that all you noticed about her?' Pansy asked sounding slightly amused

'no… she… um… she had green eyes!' Blaise said as if he'd had a major revelation

'no, that was Alyce' Pansy told him laughing, I looked back down at them to see Blaise trying to look into my eyes too this time, I laughed slightly nervously.

'I'd say my eyes are more hazel but whatever' I told them lightly, I felt some sort of heat hitting my fingers of my left hand that wasn't there before and suddenly had one of Draco's fingers slipping between two of my outstretched fingers, he tried to link his finger with one of mine that weren't flat on the ground but I flicked my head around to face him, he had his smirk on as he winked at me again. I took my hand away, annoyed but his facial expression never changed. Pansy and Blaise continued their conversation

Soon Pansy spoke to us again.

'we have five minutes to lessons we better get a move on.' she told us, we all got our things together and headed up towards the castle.

'do you know where you're going for your flying lesson?' she asked me. I hadn't thought of that, I shook my head, 'I'm going to show Alyce where to go for flying' she told the guys 'go ahead, I'll catch you up' We separated ourselves, it seemed out of character and it was clear Pansy wanted to talk to me about something. I let her start the conversation.

'So what was it that you wanted to ask me about Draco at breakfast?' she asked, oh this was simple enough

'oh, uh, it might sound weird but why does he keep staring at me?' I asked, this was more embarrassing than I had expected,

'he does?' she asked, was it not obvious?

'yeah, he was doing it last night, and this morning and he's been doing it the whole time outside… he never done it when we were walking together, but he offered me his arm and he was touching my hand and he keeps winking at me'

'oh,' she said, she wasn't looking at me 'well it looks like you've become his next target'

'target?' I repeated, that didn't sound good.

'no, not anything bad… I mean, he likes you. He must do.' she said

'b-b-b-but I d-, no-one ever likes me!' I dismissed

'well he does, for sure. Outside both of your eyes were completely stuck together, is it just me or did you totally forget I was there?' she asked me 'and if that wasn't intentional, you're probably giving him the wrong idea too'

'I don't want to do that, I don't like Draco - in that way… but how do I show him I don't like him?'

'tell him to stop' Pansy said simply

'Draco doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would listen' I told her

'he's not, but he'd know and he'd stop eventually. Probably. Or you could just ignore him, don't give him them meaningful stares back' she told me slightly amused again

'I DO NOT give him that kind of stare!' I told her sharply 'I give him evil looks'

'you just stare! Eyes wide, no expression, how's he supposed to know you love him like that?' she joked, I shook my head, refusing to argue 'ah-ha no denial!' she laughed.

'are you kidding me?' I asked 'never! Never ever ever ever ever ever'

'until next month' she continued for me

'NO! NEVER!' I said laughing, we walked laughing for a while.

Suddenly Pansy stopped walking, I looked ahead of us, a huge quidditch pitch stretched in front of us, I've dreamt of flying in one of these since I was 5 and dad first took me flying on his broom. He's been teaching me to play ever since he took me away from mum, again, on his broomstick. I grinned, I couldn't wait to get in the air, and dad's getting me a broomstick for a coming home present at the end of this year. I need to practise as much as possible.