Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter characters, Rowling has all the credit. The artists have credit for their own songs as well, I just love music.

Author Note: As promised another chapter for you guys ^_^ And I couldn't find a good song to put to the last chapter sry…any ideas let me know and ill see what I can do. (RE-EDITED SRY ABOUT ALL MISTAKES GUYS)

'Italics'- thoughts

'Bold'- singing

Chapter 10

Charms class was on the opposite side of school from my common room, James told me his common room was closer about half the distance. He laughed as I scowled. We were walking to Transfiguration when the halls filled with first years. "Classes let out, hang on we'll find a place to wait until their gone its crazy moving through them." James said as he carved a path with his body. As a first year passed me his bag slammed into me and knocked me into James.

James caught my waist so I wouldn't keep falling, "Whoa, see what I mean." "Well maybe they shouldn't carry all their bleed'n books in their bag, then they wouldn't break frickin hips when they bumped others!" I said caressing my hip above him hand and looking back to glare and the little wanker.

James didn't release me like I thought he would, instead he pulled me in front of him and began to walk; with him hands still on my waist. I raised a curious eyebrow and smiled to myself. I kept one hand on my hurt hip and I let my other drop on top of his, and I gripped his wrist gently. I could swear I felt his body temperature rise as I continued to hold his wrist.

We finally made it through the sea of first years and stopped at the end of a hall, "We'll wait here until their all in class." James said stepping out from behind me and moving to lean against the wall. I stood in front of him and crossed my arms under my chest; I could still feel the dull throb in my hip…the little prat…

"How can things so little take up so much room, or have that much force in their movement?" I said regarding the other first years that moved by us. James chuckled, "They're all in a rush to get to their next classes, nervous wrecks. And it doesn't help that Upper class Slytherin threaten that if they fine a first year out after the bell they'll give them to Peeves." He said looking at me at me like I suggested doing that, I didn't even know who Peeves was.

"And who's Peeves?" I said I said tilting my head and raising an eyebrow, daring him to blame me again. "You haven't met Peeves?" He looked at me with a baffled expression. "Nooo…was I supposed to?" 'Who the hell is Peeves'

As James opened his mouth to answer screams erupted from the crowd of first years. Above them in the air was a ghastly looking fairy creature, but like the evil little minion type. The little fairy thing had acquired a bowl of eggs from the Great Hall and now was showering the first years with them. "That's Peeves…" James said dryly. The little fairy thing continued to make its way down the hall, towards us, showering everyone it could in eggs.

It spotted us, "Ah! A shower of eggs for the lovers! It's good luck!" It grabbed a large handful of eggs and raised it above its head. "If you continued with through with your threat you'll find yourself stuck to a suit of armor in a very provocative manner." I said in a flat tone glaring at the little creature through my lashes. The creature understood and paused with his hand above his hand. James who had pulled out him wand for a protection spell also paused and thought my threat would have been very amusing and hoped just a little bit that Peeves would go through with it.

The little creature flew down to look me even in the face, "It's been a long time since Peeves has been threatened. The girl reminds Peeves of Bloody McHenry. Good threat too, would you help Peeves prank little unsuspecting children?" Peeves actually sounded hopeful when he asked, James was blown away that Peeves was talking normally to someone. "Umm, maybe if I'm free sometime; but you have to leave me and my friend here alone. Deal?" I said in the same flat tone.

"Deal my lady!" Peeves stood up straight in the air and bowed, "I look forward to the day when we work together oh, cruel one. Now if you'll excuse me I must catch the group I missed." With that he was gone flying after the group of first years that got away.

"That was…different from anything else I've held a conversation with." I said watching the creature go. "No, that was different from any other encounter Peeves has had with ANYONE in the history of Hogwarts! Brilliant threat too." James said cracking a smile as he finished. I smiled back, "I could say the same to whoever threatened a first year with the 'give them to Peeves' threat. I would dread being giv'in to that little…what exactly is he?" I said looking back at James. He just shrugged," I don' know, a mutated fairy?" I laughed and shook my head, "You think the coast is clear?" I asked peeking around the wall.

James did the same leaning very close to me and I caught a whiff of cologne, at least I'm guessing it was cologne because if that was how he naturally smelled he surely would be mauled right now…

"Yeah, I think so come on. It's the fourth door down on the left down this hallway." I stepped back slightly and he walked forward. So we walked down and took a look inside of the class, the seats were ordered like steps, 'Interesting'.

"Okay, next is Transfiguration, lead the way Potter." I said as we stepped out of the classroom. He chuckled when I called him Potter, "It's just one floor down and down the hall a bit, come on there's stairs down here." I followed him as he walked to the opposite end of the hall from where we came.

So this trek between classes wouldn't be bad quick short, better than all the way across the school. He walked up to the door and cracked it open, no one was in it. "And this is Transfiguration class." He said stepping fully into the room. It was large with desks that seat two filling the room; there was also a large bird in a cage at the front of the room. "Okay, that's easy. Next."

"Right Herbology, come on we got to go outside." James pushed off a desk and opened the door and he held it open for me. "What a gentlemen." I said smiling at him. "Yeah, yeah…come on." He said blushing.

As we rounded the corner we came face-to-face with a group of girls. The girl standing in the front of the group fell into a scowl as she glared at me, briefly looking at my house badge. She quickly looked over to James, "James, what are you doing?" she asked in a stern voice.

'This girl pissed me off and she didn't even talk to me; something usually only Caroline could do' I thought as I continued to look at her. "Ashley! Umm…she's new here…so I'm showing her around to her classes…" James said in a gruff voice pausing in parts showing he was nervous.

'Ashley? Wasn't that the girl Al said James was crushing on? He's got to have better taste than this…girl…' "Rather nice of him don't you think? Hi, I'm Alexis Malfoy." I took a step forward so I was standing directly in front of her; we were exactly the same height. I extended my hand in a mocking gesture and smirked at her.

She looked down at my hand then back up to me, "I believe I was speaking to a Gryffindor…" 'So that's what she plays at.' "Oh! I guess you missed the sorting ceremony yesterday when you were in a broom closet with your skirt up to your bra, I understand; I'll catch you up, I'm in Slytherin. I just transferred in." I said giving her a kind smile.

"Alexis!" James said in a raised voice and grabbed my arm and pulled my back a step and places himself in between us. Ashley took in a rough breath, "And why, James, would you waste your time showing her around?" She asked throwing her eyes back on him demanding an answer.

He looked over to her, "Well, I met her during the summer, at a Quidditch match," he paused and looked around a bit, "and she wasn't…mean…so I figured I'd offer her some help…"

I was getting annoyed at the fact the little twit of a girl could turn James into such a blubbering idiot.

"You met her once at a Quidditch match, so you decide to be nice to her…" Ashley said as if she were trying to piece a puzzle together.

"Oh, quite being so overbearing, you're not even dating him. What's the matter afraid you'll lose your chance before you even get one?" I said tilting my head to the side as I placed my hand on James's arm. He didn't shake me off either.

Ashley's eye's flicked down to my hand on him and her scowl darkened. "Alexis please…" James mumbled to me. I flicked my gaze up to him, sad, he was actually pleading to me with his eyes. I looked back to Ashley and smiled, "Excuse us James has to show me to Herbology still. Pleasure running into you, can't wait till next time." I gripped James's arm a pulled him after me, I didn't know where I was going but hopefully he'd know a way.

"James!" Ashley shouted after us, James turned his head back but gave a half-hearted shrug as I continued to drag him with me. I stormed my way until we were halfway down the random hallway I chose to walk down. I slowed and released his wrist and took a nice calming breath; Malfoy annoyance level matched with the easily angered temper of a Siren was not a good thing at times. I looked over at James, his eyes were wondering all over the hall like he was searching for the right thing to say, then he looked over at me before I looked away and gave a small unsure smile.

'Right, he likes her… I hate apologizing…' I grumbled in my head, "Look, sorry about that whole thing with your girl back there. I didn't think anyone could annoy me that quickly beside Caroline. Umm, okay that probably wasn't the best thing to say, but that's all I got. Sorry." I spared him a side glance; he was regarding me with that innocent boy stare. 'He could seriously turn a girl into pudding with that stare.'

Then he looked down and again gave a weak smile, "its ok, I didn't tell you about her so you'd be ready so how could you have known right?" "Yeah, well please tell me you know a way out of this hallway and I didn't just take us down a dead end." I said trying to chance the mood quickly.

James looked around and studied the hallway, "Actually I think you found the only dead end hallway in Hogwarts." He looked over at me and managed to keep his face straight for, oh, three seconds before breaking out into a grin. I smacked his arm, "Git…" He chuckled and said we could get out this way but it would be a longer walk to the greenhouses.

We turned around a side of Hogwarts; I had no idea which side so it was a side, and we saw the greenhouses resting lower on the hill. "I abhorrer Herbology, just for the record…" I said in a grumbling voice. James laughed at me, "How can you hate it? It's easy just say if a plant can eat you or not."

"Yeah, and get dirt under your fingernails, and get sweaty in the greenhouse, and your chances of getting your finger bitten off go up every time you step into one of those greenhouses." I said still staring at the greenhouse.

James laughter now echoed over the hill, "Wow Alexis, don't be such a girl." I stopped in my tracks and gave him a WTF look, "That's kind of hard it's in my DNA, genius." He turned and regarded me for a second, 'He better not say otherwise…'

"Yeah and being a Malfoy makes that like what, multiplied by fifty?" He said not breaking his curious gaze on me. "OH!" I took quick steps forward and wacked him a few times before he easily jogged ahead out of my reach, laughing.

As he showed me to what would be our greenhouse that we'd be working in I couldn't help but think of the two different James's I was beginning to know. One was shy, quiet, and observant. The other was the playful James, outgoing, a bit of a jokester, and he smiled a lot more then the shy James. On some level I was glad he was letting me see the playful James instead of the shy one all the time, the shy one was still just as cute but playful James made for better conversations. He was still shy about physical contact but we could work on that… The only problem was him liking that other Gryffin-bitch. I'm not going to deny at this point that I' pretty sure I would like James as my boyfriend, but I'm not one to step in and make the decision for him. I had seen that too many times with my mother and I told myself I would never get in the way if the boy I liked liked another; everyone deserves a chance I suppose. I just can't bring myself to completely step in and block everyone and everything else out, that's too much like my mother and what she did to my father. So if James wanted Ashley he could be with her. 'Stupid Gryffin-bitch…'

I thought about all of this while James walked me to Divination. He came to stop at the end of a hallway with a large set of spiraling stairs proceeding way up into the ceiling. "These lead to Divination class all the way at the top, you got to climb a latter to get in the actual room but I don't feel like climb'n all those stairs if I don't have to be there for class." James said looking up the stairs for a few seconds before looking back at me.

"A latter…but girls wear skirts!" I said motioning with my hands to my skirt. I most certainly didn't want some boys looking up it while I climbed to get to class. James looked down at my skirt and regarded to for a few seconds tilting his head. It seemed to me that his gaze dipped a bit lower then my skirt went on my legs but he quickly looked up to me, "Umm I'm not really the guy to ask 'bout that. Try asking Rose later." He said running his hand through his hair. 'He did check my legs out… my, my James…'

"Yeah I'll do that. See anything you liked?" I said raising my eyebrow at him, his eyes quickly found mine after he heard me. They were wide in shock, I just smirked at him and gave him a wink; his eyebrows disappeared under his shaggy hair at this.

"So, Study Hall is next, why don't we head to the Great Hall afterwards I'm starting to get hungry." I said looking down the hall. "Uh, yeah well actually we'll get to the Great Hall first, but the Library is just around the corner from it, you can't miss it. I'll show you which way to go, then we can grab a bite to eat." James said walking forward and once again leading the way to our next destination.

As we approached the Great Hall James pointed forward into the continuing hall, "You just go to the end of that hall and go left, and then it's right on the right. Trust me you can't miss it, they have glass windows so you can admire all the books…" James said sounding as enthusiastic as ever. I chuckled, "Okay, if you say so. Now lead the way to Rose I need to ask her about that latter…"

He gave me a surprised look but complied none the less. So I found myself walking between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor to Rose, who was once again buried in a book. James stopped to talk to a boy who called him to ask about Quidditch tryouts, if he had heard anything; Steven. I walked up to Rose, "Hey," and I went to sit with my back to the table so I could ask my quick question, but when I sat down the whole bench bucked in protest. I jumped up and Rose almost lost her balance, along with many other Gryffindor. "What the hell you stupid bench! I'm just trying to ask a question!" I yelled as I kicked the bench and it leapt again in protest. "Stop! Doing that… the house feuds have been in the castle for so long it's only natural for certain house items to detest others from different houses." Rose said with her voice calming down to a normal talking voice after the first few words. "Well that's ridicules." I said huffy, 'Stupid bench.'

"So, what do I owe this visit?" Rose said looking back at me. "Well, miss business-only, I was curious how girls get up the Divination tower latter without have peeking boys problems?" I said looking at her questioningly. "Oh, it's a simple sticking charm; we stick it to the back of our legs then remove it until we go back down." Rose said in what sounded like a teacher voice. Oddly enough her teacher voice didn't bother me like others had.

"Oh, yeah that would be easiest. Thank Rose." I left and walked to my table for a bite to eat.

James and Rose "So how was your morning with Alexis?" Rose asked not looking up from her book. "Fine, just showing her around… We ran into Ashley though…" James said casing a glance to Rose. She was looking at him now, "Ashley, how did that go?" she asked with a hit of worry in her voice, she knew well of Ashley's prejudice; it was a wonder how she ended up in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, but her loyalty was hard core and she was very brave when it came to confrontations.

"You can imagine I'm sure. No spells were shot though, but the annoyance between those two could start a raging forest fire." James said sighing. "Well at least they didn't go at each other's throats literally, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time, two personalities like theirs clashing. It's bound to happen." Rise said I a soft voice quickly running over different reasons for them to go at it; right now, beside the first encounter not going well, the only thing she could think of was James. He has liked Ashley for the past year and now Alexis was flirting with him.

"Yeah… You didn't stay here the whole time did you?" James said looking at her, she hadn't moved. "No, I went outside to read then came back for a bite.' Rose said looking offended. "Sorry, I just know you lose track of time sometimes when you're reading…" James said shrinking away mentally. "That's only during the summer when I have time to not care about time James." Rose said hotly. She finished her drink then stood up to leave.

James had a confused look as he replayed what she said in his head, "Okay, sorry just checking…" James said softly. Rose looked at him and sighed, she hated it when he pulled the shy, dejected side on her. "I know, sorry. I'll be out in the courtyard if you need me." Rose said leaning over and kissing his head before walking away. James made quick swipes with his hand through his hair; I always got embarrassed when she did that.