Beth sighed and lay back on the sofa of the common room. A book rested on her chest, open, upside down. She was mentally exhausted, the NEWTs taking all her energy out of her. And it had only been a month! She rolled onto her side, the book slipping from her chest and falling with a thump onto the floor.

She still hadn't met the famous Tom Riddle, said to be the son of the evil Lord Voldemort. From the sound of him, she didn't want to. Although, Beth thought with a small smile, Sway had said he wasn't so bad on the eye.

"Like fire," she had whispered to Beth just the day before in Transfiguration. "Pretty to look at, bad to touch. That boy is serious trouble. He's the school sailor, goes from port to port as if tomorrow might be his last day sailing."

Beth grinned. Lifting her arm, she draped it across her eyes, not moving at the sound of someone entering the common room.

"You're Beth, aren't you?"

Beth sat up, blinking hard in the harsh light as she removed her arm. The young girl standing in front of her smiled.

"I'm Emily."

Beth watched her warily. After slapping Marcus two weeks ago she had avoided any contact with him. He, in turn, completely ignored her. But Emily seemed to be friendly enough. Beth lifted her chin slightly. Don't trust her. Not yet. E

mily held out her hand and grinned. "You slapped Marcus? Not many people would have the guts to do that! He hates it whenever I mention you... can't see why..."

Shaking Emily's hand, Beth suddenly relaxed and laughed. "I can't believe I did it either!"

"You hang around with Sway, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Don't."

Beth frowned again. Emily sighed and sat down next to her. "You can hang with us. Marc and I, in particular. Sway is friends with Razzy, and anyone who likes Razzy is someone to avoid."

"Razzy?"

"The school port."

"Oh, like Tom is the school sailor?"

Emily winked. "So you've heard of Thomas, have you? Let's just say he's docked at Razzy's port the most."

Beth rubbed her eyes wearily. "This is too much. Won't Marcus hate me?"

"Not if I have anything to do about it. I'll introduce you, he'll love you."

"Uhuh, sure..."

Emily lay back against the arm of the sofa.

"Want some more Hogwarts history?"

Laughing, Beth nodded. "Please, fill me in! I feel like I've missed a lot, here."

"You have." Emily stared up at the ceiling. "Where to begin? Razzy... Razzillian Macmillian is... well she's... a dirty little swine. She's been with Marcus, Tom... Anthony... oh, I can't remember, too many! Well, she cheated on Marc with Tom and vice versa..."

"And they took her back?"

"That's something you need to learn about her." She leaned forward fervently. "She can mess with peoples minds, trust me, I know. Those two boys, in particular, they think she hung the moon, they sing praises about her. And all the time she's manipulating them! It's sick, it's crazy, but they will not hear a bad word against her.

"Anyway, so she's screwed them around, she's messed me up countless times, she uses her friends... she's Satan in a dress."

Beth grinned at the thought. "So this... this Razzy is someone to avoid?"

"To put it mildly, yes." She shook her head. "It doesn't sound like much, but believe me, you'll know when you meet her. She's a man-eater."

The door of the common room slid open and Emily's mouth snapped shut. The lumbering shadow walked into the light of the fire, showing a very tired Marcus Flint.

"Hey Em... you." He stopped suddenly at the sight of Beth. She stared down at the ground, a faint blush lighting her cheeks. Emily laughed.

"Marc, this is Beth. Beth... Marc. I presume you two have already met."

"Yeah, we met alright," Marcus replied, gruffly. Em laughed. "Get over it, she's really nice. Trust me."

Turning, she kissed him lightly on the mouth. He visibly relaxed. Beth smiled. It seemed Emily had quite an affect on him. He sat down opposite Beth.

"So," he said, noticeably trying to contain himself. "You like Quidditch?"

"Only when it involves prizing two hormone pumped men apart. Very... poignant?"

She gasped and her eyes widened as she realized what she had let slip out of her mouth. Marcus' jaw dropped but, suddenly, he grinned.

"Got to admit," he said, rubbing his jaw. "That was a pretty good shot. Hurt like hell!"

"Yeah, seeing as I basically needed a stepladder to reach that high."

"Midget."

"Hey! Just because I'm not abnormally tall, seriously, mate, you need some serious shrinking. Then again, that could hurt your reputation..."

Emily giggled. "Marcus, I do believe you've met your match! I'm going to bed."

She stood and kissed the top of his head, grinned at Beth, then turned on her heel and sped up the stairs to the girls' dorm.

Marc smiled warmly at Beth. "Five minutes ago I hated you. You aren't exactly who I thought you were."

"I have that affect on people. They think I'm sweet and innocent... lies, I tell you! All lies!"

Marcus laughed. "You look like an angel, to me."

"You insult me, sir."

He stood and bowed, his eyes locked on hers, light with laughter. "None intended, I assure you. But, just look at you. So little, with that mop of wavy hairs, going into little curls... and your eyes..." He stared into them a fraction longer than necessary. "Wow, they're really..." He didn't finish. Beth looked away.

"I'm no angel."

"I think you are."

"You think wrong."

"I'm never wrong."

"Ha! Yesterday, in class, what's the spell used against Dementors, Marcus, hmm?" She put on a fake thoughtful expression. "What was your answer again?"

"I thought it quite amusing, the answer I gave!" He feigned a shocked, hurtful look.

"Using Wingardium Leviosa to levitate them and then dump them into acid is not an amusing answer, Flint!"

"Just picture it..." he sighed dreamily and Beth laughed hard, clutching at her stomache. He grinned at her. "See? Amusing." He watched on as she laughed, wiping away tears of merriment. "You don't look like you've laughed that hard in ages."

Beth's smile faded slightly. "I haven't. Anyway, I'm going to bed... I'm glad we're friends now." She held out her hand and, after looking at it in ever conceivable angle, Marcus shook it.

"Goodnight, Flint."

He beamed. "Goodnight. Little Angel."

She smiled brightly at him, shook her head exasperatedly, then turned and walked up the stairs, not realizing his eyes were following her every step.