Chapter 1

It had been a lovely day, despite the fact that it was early October. Unfortunately, because it was a Tuesday, the students of Hogwarts only enjoyed a few hours of sunshine between the end of their lessons and dusk. Almost all the students were down in the Great Hall for dinner by now, but one girl sat alone in Gryffindor tower, poring over a book with a quill in her hand.
She was slim, fair-skinned and reasonably tall. Her hair, which was very long and thick, was raven black, and tied up in an untidy high ponytail. Her storm grey eyes paused as she reached the end of the page. She reached up and scratched her long, slender nose with the point of her quill before turning the page. Just as she finished that page and turned to the next one, the portrait hole bust open and another girl clambered in, muttering furiously to herself. She straightened up and dusted off her robes, still grumbling. She wasn't all that tall, but she was slender. She had emerald green eyes and thick, straight, dark red hair that reached to her shoulders.
Roseline, the girl sitting down, grinned without taking her eyes off the page.

"What did James do this time?" She enquired.

"That Potter-"Lily Evans snapped, "-is the most arrogant, conceited big- headed git that I have ever had the misfortune to meet."

Lily threw herself into an armchair and continued her rant. "You'd think he'd have realised by now that I'm not going to go out with him, but he won't stop pestering me! As if I'd ever go out with him."

"Maybe you should."

Lily stopped dead and stared at Roseline, aghast.

"Roseline Kehst, are you out of your mind? Go out with him? Potter? You can't be serious."

"It would make him stop pestering you. Get it over and done with, and he'll never ask you again."

Roseline grinned at the horrified look on her friend's face.

"Don't worry, Lily, I'm only joking. But you are being a bit hard on the poor guy, I mean, he's obviously besotted with you."

Lily snorted.

"Not besotted enough to try and act like someone I might actually want to spend time with though, I notice. He's hopeless."

"I know," said Roseline, sympathetically, "it must be awful to have someone who'd do absolutely anything for you, pleading on bended knee for you to go out with him."

Lily looked at Roseline for a second, then gave her a playful shove. "Shut up, you know what I mean. Come on, let's go get some food."

They arrived in the Great Hall a few minutes later. Most of the students were still there, although not many were still eating. Both girls suddenly realised how hungry they were. Roseline hadn't eaten yet because she'd wanted to enjoy the peace of the common room while it was empty. Lily hadn't eaten yet because she'd been trying to avoid James. Unfortunately for Lily however, James and his friends were still in the Great Hall, laughing at some joke or other. James spotted Lily walking in the door, and his hand jumped to his hair. Lily saw this, and groaned quietly. Roseline heard her.

"Now, now," she whispered, nudging Lily, "be nice."

James's best friend, Sirius Black, had also noticed James's sudden movement, and, seeing the motivation, smirked, and grinned at the other two boys sitting with them, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin.

Trying to ignore this, the girls sat down and loaded up their plates with food. They didn't look up again till they were finished.

"I should have known," growled Lily, as she lowered her fork.

Roseline followed Lily's gaze and wasn't surprised to see that James and co. were still at the table. As she watched the growing expression of annoyance on Lily's pretty face, she felt quite sorry for James. Not because she particularly liked him, although in all fairness she thought he was ok, if a bit arrogant. No, she felt sorry for him because of how Lily always turned him down. No matter how many times he asked her out, she always refused. Roseline knew that underneath the façade, Lily actually fairly respected James. He always stood up for her, he was polite and he had a good sense of humour. But while Roseline might know this, James didn't.

Lily stood up and James followed suit. Trying to ignore him, Lily turned to Roseline.

"You coming?"

"Aw, but Lil, I want to finish my pudding. Can't you wait for me?"

The look Lily gave her would have curdled milk. Roseline quickly decided that it was not the best time to test Lily's sense of humour, and jumped to her feet. Lily started to walk away, and Roseline, looking around, caught Sirius's eye. They both grinned, and Roseline followed Lily out of the hall.