Disclaimer: Basically, anyone/anything you recognize from the Harry Potter Books, are/is not mine but are the product of the amazing imagination of JK Rowling!

From now on Posts will be completely in Charli's PoV! Occasionally it will be in either James's, Lily's, or Sirius's!

Chapter Two

Charli did her two months of detention, and she always ended up sitting by herself, everyday. James was always sitting with that Sirius kid, who still looked at her butt every time she sat down. It was driving her nuts! She was his best friend, not Black! Wasn't she? They'd been friends for years, why would he stop now? Charli shook these thoughts from her head as she walked into the library, and took a seat next to James. At least he remembered this time.

"Hey James."

"Hey Chars."

She opened her 'Standard Book of Spells 4', because she had already read her one for this year. Lately reading was all she had been doing, since James was too busy to give her a passing glance.

"Guess What?" James asked, a smile breaking out on his face.

"Huh." She replied, hoping it would be good news. No matter what it was though, she had to act happy for him.

"Lily actually noticed me, today Char! She and I had an actual conversation!" He was so excited, but she couldn't help but feel angry. He had ignored her for two months for some girl he didn't have a chance with? Instead of showing how she really felt, she leaned back in her seat and gave him a quick smile. Hopefully he would buy it, and he did.

"That's, uh, great." she say, for the added effect. His smile was so contagious, that she couldn't help but smile too. It quickly turned to a frown when she heard Sirius's voice.

"Hey Babe, James." He said, and she rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Firstly, I would like to point out that I have a name, and 'babe' is not it." She said, disgusted. "Second of all, I would deeply appreciate it if you would kindly fuck off." She said, quickly giving him the finger and walking off. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. It wasn't her fault, though. Maybe if someone would pay her the tiniest amount of attention, she wouldn't be so damned moody!

Since Charli had nothing else to do, she immersed herself in her studies. Muggle Studies, Divination, Ancient Runes, CoMC, Trans, Potions, Astronomy... It annoyed her greatly to be ignored. Before she knew it, Halloween and the Halloween Dance was just around the corner. And it was a costume dance. For once, she was excited. Even if she didn't have a date so far, the prospect of it was still awesome. Dumbledore had allowed an emergency Hogsmeade Trip so that everyone could get what he or she needed for costumes. Charli knew what she wanted to be; she was going to be the gorgon, Medusa. She remembered reading about her. Medusa was a monster that had once been a very beautiful maiden whose hair had been her glory, and she dared rival her beauty with that of the goddess Athena. In response to her bragging, Athena turned the maiden's hair into snakes. She was still beautiful in her own right, but any person who laid eyes on her would turn to stone.

She was on her way out of the Costume Store when Blade Avery knocked her over. Most of the time, people like Blade would not even think of giving people like her a passing glance, and to this day she did not know why he did.

"Are you alright?" He asked, and she stood up, and felt pain shoot up her leg and she winced. She glanced up at him, her eyes narrowed.

"I would be if someone hadn't rammed into me!" She said in an angry voice. "Sorry. I just haven't been in the best of moods lately." She sighed, and he nodded as if to say it was okay and pulled her to him in a way so that all her weight was on him.

"Charli Leliam, right?" he asked. "Potter's friend." Her face scrunched and shook her head.

"Ex friend." She said hatefully. "He's too busy with Black and trying to get the attention of a girl who will never give him a second thought."

"So your not his friend?"

"No."

"Do you have a date to the dance?"

"No."
"Will you go with me?"

"No-I mean Yes!" he had caught her off guard there for a second. He smiled and pulled her against him, and brought his face down, just inches from hers. It was driving her crazy and her breath quickened in anticipation. Finally his lips met hers, and how a touch so light, so barely there, could feel so wonderful to her she would never know.

"Catch you later Leliam." He said, and walked off leaving her standing there, her hand at her mouth.

As the dance drew closer, Charli's patience was wearing thinner and thinner. One day in Divination class, James sat next to her.

"Is it true?" he asked, and she wasn't sure what he was talking about at first.

"Is what true?"

"That you going out with Avery." She looked at him in surprise. Why in the world would anyone think her and Blade were going out? It was just a dance.

"No." she could see the relief in his eyes, and decided to ruin it. "Just the dance." His eyes widened and he grabbed her upper arm.

"What are you thinking, going with a Slytherin?" she whacked his arm off as he said this and ignored him, turning her head to the blackboard and Professor Kalbus. James confronted her again on the way out of class. Why was he doing this? It's not as if he cared she existed anymore! She tried to keep ignoring him, but her efforts were useless. Soon enough she had Sirius on her tail too. Wouldn't they just all leave her the hell alone? That's all she wanted right now.

A day later, Charli was wandering around in the halls, on her way back to the common room, when James and Sirius stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't you ever go away!" she screamed in distress. James took a step forward, and she tried to take a step back but Sirius stopped her. "Let go of me!"

"We're just trying to reason with you, Charli." He said, and this scared her because he called her Charli. She had always been Chars. The last time he had called her Charli, he had been angry because she punched him.

"I don't need reasoned with!" she said frantically. "You're the one that does. You're the one that doesn't care I exist anymore! You're the one who doesn't give a damn anymore!"

James looked at her, awestruck. He had no idea that she felt that way.

"So your dishing it back at me by.... going out with Avery?" he asked, not sure what was actually going on. He did not understand girls at all. Charli let out a screech of impatience.

"No! And for the kazillionth time, we are not going out! IT IS JUST A DANCE!" she said, and after she got this out, and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I'm going to the dance with him because I like him. And I'm going to dish this back at you in a much worse way. Because right when you give up and think I won't do it, I will. When you least expect it, I will strike. Revenge is sweet James, and I will get mine."

Charli kicked Sirius, making him let of her, and she stormed off.

"Man, you sure pissed that chick off." Sirius commented, and James nodded. He sure had.

No doubt about that one. Charli was royally P.O'd. She was like this for quite a while, up until the night of the ball. She was so excited, except she wasn't sure what to do with her hair. Put a charm on it or what? Much to her dismay, she decided to ask Lily. She could not believe she was sinking as low as that.

"As much as I hate to admit this, I need advice." She announced, and they all looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. "I'm going as Medusa and I don't know what to do with my hair." They all nodded, as if they understood; which they probably did.

"You should put a charm on it that makes it green!" Kally suggested, and they all nodded. "And make it look like snakes!" Lily whipped out her wand and gave it a swish, muttering something under her breath and immediately, Charli's long brown hair was the color of snakes.

"Wicked Sweet." She said and headed down the stairs and decided to go down to the Great Hall with the Blond Squad. She's meet Blade down there since obviously he wasn't in Gryffindor.

"Your hair is full of snakes, Leliam!" Blade exclaimed when he saw her, and she giggled. He wasn't any different.

"I'm Medusa, you moron!" she said between laughs. "Your supposed to turn to stone now." She giggled again and gave him a look that said who-are-you-supposed-to-be.

"I'm Oliver, my twin brother." He explained while grinning as he led her onto the dance floor. Charli was having an absolutely great time at the dance. She spent most of her time dancing, and looking at James. He couldn't get Lily to go with him, so instead he got some Ravenclaw named Ashlee. Every once in a while, she'd catch him giving her a glare. For once in her life, Charli didn't give a shit that James was mad at her, and she was happy that way. She didn't have to worry that every second she was going to do something that would upset it. All those years she was like, an android. But now, she'd work on just being her, and hopefully James could accept that. Near the end of the dance, Dumbledore had an announcement. Houses would separate the winners, so there would be four places, one from each house.

"I am proud to announce that the first place winner is from Gryffindor, and is the girl with the snakes for hair!" He said, and Charli giggled, and walked up to the stage. "Second place goes to Slytherin with the impersonating twins, Third place is for the Merepeople of Hufflepuff, and fourth place is awarded to Cleopatra, from Ravenclaw." Everyone up on the stage took a bow, and went back to dance to the last dance. When it was over, Blade pulled her out into the hallway.

"I had an amazing time tonight, Leliam." He said, and leaned in, and his lips met hers, and he moved his tongue into her mouth. They went on like this for several minutes, until people started to file out. He gave her a fleeting grin before walking away. Charli felt as if she was moving through syrup while making her way up to the common room, and into her dorm. That night, Charli Leliam fell asleep knowing that from this day on, her life was different. It had changed, whether for good or bad, she did not know. But she didn't care, either. For once, she was in control of her life and wanted to keep it that way.