Ah! As I said before, I won't really be making any excuses as to why I don't update often. x.x; Sorry it's been a while, though. :) Thanks for the reviews!

Saxifrage: Aww thank you! Now where's my loofa? XD
Absh: Glad you liked it! I'll try and update more. :)

Disclaimer: Lalalala, I own it ALL! BWAHAHAHHAHAHHA! I SHALL RULE ALL!
Circe: ...> ; swats
Me: OUCH! Oh, alright. I don't own the canon characters. ;.; BUT I STILL SHALL RULE ALL!
Circe: >>;;; Twat.

Bet is Bête

Circe's POV

Lily was nice enough. She had quite the temper, though. Scared me out of my wits for a moment, actually. We managed to get changed before the boys came strolling back in unannounced, and I couldn't help but grinwith satisfactionat their disappointed faces. "Perverts," I taunted them. I was already feeling right at home. I still did feel bad about Mira getting Ravenclaw.

What was up with the school's name, by the way? I had been begging to ask the question, but blimey, what a ridiculous name! Hogwarts? Who wants their school named after hog warts? Warty hogs? Disgusting!

"Why, thank you," Sirius bowed gracefully, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I scowled at them. Thankfully, the scenario didn't last long, for the train slowed to a stop. And again, I fell. Swearing loudly, I realized I had fallen on someone. Soon after, I realized that I had fallen on the "someone" that was probably not the best"someone" to fall on. His hands were around my waist, securing my position on him. The boy was just staring at me, with some dazed kind of look.

"Biggot, let me up!" I snarled at Black, and he obliged. I glared, about to hex him into the next oblivion, but Mira pulled me out of the compartment, and I knew she was giving an apologetic look to the ones occupying it.

"What did you do that for? The jerk had it coming!" I demanded of her, and she looked a bit sheepish.

"You were the one that fell on him, actually," Mira smiled at me as a blush rose to my cheeks.

"It was most certainly not my fault! You know I'm a bit accident-prone!" I shot back, and she just smiled… that horribly infuriating smile! Why did she have to know everything and pretend like she knew nothing! Stupid twat.

By the time I had calmed down,Lily had caught up to us and we were just exiting the carriage.Lily led us into the Great Hall. Bloody brilliant thing it was, with the ceiling magicked into being the night sky, with hundreds of floating candles decorating the golden hall. There were four long rows of tables, each decorated with two different pairing colors. "That's the Ravenclaw table," Lily said, pointing to the far one on the left. "I'll introduce you to a few of them. They're all really nice," she assured Mira, and I could have huggedLily for being so considerate.

"Go save me a spot at the table, will you, Circe? It's the middle right one." I gave Mira a quick hug, noticing more than a few heads had turned to inspect myself and Mira. I chose to ignore them, and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Stupid name. Why call it Gryffindor, when there was a lion on the banner? Griffins, though part lion, were definitely not lions! Stupid school.

At least I had food to look forward to. But when I looked at the table for a second time, I realized there was no food! I groaned exasperatedly and hit my head on the empty plate. "Ow…" I muttered into the plate, closing my eyes shut. I really didn't want to be here.

"Are you always like this, or do you keep falling for me?" I heard a familiar voice and I sighed inwardly.

"Do you have any mercy on new students?" I asked Sirius pleadingly, who sat down beside me. That was definitely enough to answer my question.

"Nope," he confirmed my suspicions anyway, and the rest of the boys sat down across from me, except the short lumpy one, who sat by Sirius. He seemed a bit like Sirius' shadow. Creepy.

"Circe! I was afraid I'd lost you! I tried looking for you when you got off the train, but I couldn't find you!" I looked into Betelgeuse's friendly eyes, and he sat next to me.

"Who's this?" I heard Sirius slightly taken back. Jealous? HAH! I smiled evilly at Sirius.

"This is my boyfriend. Juicey, meet the most annoying boy on the face of the Wizarding World," I chuckled at my own genius, but it quickly plummeted.

"Ugh. Circe, seriously. That's gross. I'm Betelgeuse, her brother," he held out his hand to Sirius, and they shook hands, annoyingly right in front of my face, so all I could see was a stupid waving of hands up and down. I was burning bright red at the moment. Trust Juice to make me feel like a pervert.

"You swear like I was serious, Juice. You're such an idiot sometimes," I snapped, a bit annoyed as I fought the urge to slam my face on the plate for a second time.

"Stop calling me Juice! Or I'll start calling you—"

"—Antares? Mira so graciously informed us of that name earlier," Sirius seemed to be quite proud of himself. Juice was a bit put out, however, since he couldn't blackmail me. Jerk.

"I talked to Professor McGonagall about Quidditch, Circe. They were looking for a beater! They need chasers too, and a keeper. It seems like the whole team got wiped out," Betel was telling me, and my mood definitely brightened.

"Yep, all of them were seventh years. Brought the team down, I'm afraid. But we still didn't lose. Potter's a brilliant seeker, and I'm one helluva beater, if I do say so myself," I heard Black say, and the temptation to slam my forehead on the plate was too strong. Another thunk of ceramic and bone was heard, but I had a hard head, and unfortunately, no pain was let out on.

"You should really stop doing that. You could suffer some serious brain damage, no pun intended," I could tell Sirius was grinning just by the way he was talking.

"Oh, sod off." Brilliant reply. I believe just talking to this guy has dulled my wit a bit.

"Sod off?" oh great, Betelgeuse was gasping. That only meant more suffering for me. "Has the greatCirce finally run out of comebacks?" he asked in horror. I gave him a heel to the shin for that. "OUCH! Bloody violent today, aren't we?"

I was about to reply, whenLily sat down next to my brother looking a bit disappointed. "I thought you'd save me a seat!" she declared, but it was obvious she was only joking. I heart Potter somewhere in front of me sigh dreamily.

"I had no choice. I was bombarded by idiots," I mumbled, and sawLily do a double take at Betelgeuse. I rolled my eyes. Oh lord, not her too!

"Betelgeuse Gavin, at your service. Most people just call me Bet or Gavin," he used his most "I'm-so-great-I-could-love-myself" voice, and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you aware that 'bête' means stupid in French?"Lily asked seriously, and I snorted into my plate. Perhaps I hadn't lost every girl to Juice's amazingly good looks.

"Err. No, actually."

"I didn't know you spoke French, Evans! Ah, bless me, she's a romantic!" Potter mocked a faint into Remus' arms, who just let him drop to the floor. That caused me to snort into my plate again, chuckling some before sitting up straight. Before Potter could make a remark, the first years came in. Thank god I did this out of school. I would have been mortified had I done it in front of all these people.

After the sorting, Dumbledore stood up. Dumbledore. Yet another ridiculous name. This school was just plain weird. A hush fell over the crowd, and he cleared his throat. Lost cause there, buddy. Apparently he was recently dubbed the headmaster. But he looked so comfortable and serene, you wouldn't have questioned it had you been told he had been headmaster for three hundred years. He looked old enough to do it, too. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" Oh, just a grand entrance. Blubbering prat.

"First things first: the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students. You'll stay clear if you don't want to die a horribly painful death," he looked sternly at us all, and I seemed the only one chuckling. What, they actually believed that crap? Apparently, because now they were all staring at me for laughing. I stopped immediately, and looked at him. He seemed to take no notice, however, since he continued on as if he hadn't heard me. "Secondly, there are three new fifth years that will be attending Hogwarts with us for the rest of their education. I'm sure you will all give them the same respect that you have for your own peers, for they are now among them. Don't be shy, stand up!"

About to refuse, I felt Juice pull me up with him. There was a rather hefty applause, seeing as Juice had obviously already done his share of meeting people, and Mira had the same heart-stopping effect on boys as well. I was the first to sit down, and when Juice took a second too long to sit down, I grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him down. Sirius snorted into chuckling next to me, and I threw a glare at him. What right did he have to make fun of my brother? I was the only one entitled to that!

While we were waiting for the applause to die down (some mad girls in the Hufflepuff table were squealing and hooting, while I could still hear echoes of wolf calls; the bloody perverts), Dumbledore surveyed his students. His eyes twinkled in a way that reminded me of a child. I couldn't help but respect the man, even if he did just bring all the attention on us. I ignored the stares coming my way, focusing hard on the old man. "And lastly, Hippogriffs, plaster, and lemon sherbet!"

I stared at him blankly. No one else seemed to be miffed by his last words, other than Mira, Betelgeuse, the first years, and I, so I guessed I shouldn't think much of it. I turned back to the table to see an enormous pile of food on my plate, and huge bowls and plates in the center for serving seconds. I began to dig in, famished. "Whoa, you really know how to eat, don't you?" I heard the lumpy one say, and looked up, swallowing a bit of the sheppard's pie. The five that didn't know me well were staring at me in awe.

I shrugged. "A girl's gotta eat," I explained

"Amen," Sirius agreed, and I laughed before turning my attention back to my food.

After dinner, we were all too stuffed to think about much except going to bed. I hugged Mira for the last time, and the silly git hugged everyone else goodnight as well (she's always been such a flirt), and Lily and I made our way to the portrait (now THAT is a fat lady). "Now, Hogwarts. Its curfews aren't actually expected to be followed, are they?" I asked her, and she looked a bit surprised.

"Of course! Filch, the caretaker, lord knows how long he's been here, and his cat Mrs. Norris, are very strict with curfews. You wouldn't want detention, would you?" she asked, and I shrugged. Like I said, I wasn't exactly an angel. That included my years in Dwardiem's School of the Magically Privileged (Okay, so the Scots were a bit egocentric, too…).

"Well, it wouldn't be new news to me. What about passageways? This place is massive, so there has to be some good ones," I urged her, and the girl stared at me blankly. They're expecting me to stay at this school, get in by 10 every night, and there are no ways out! "Are you all bleeding mad!" I asked incredulously, and got quite a few stares from the yawning students, all eager to go to bed.

"You'll have to excuse my sister. She's a bit defiant towards school rules. Same story back home," Juice cut in, and I rolled my eyes.

"Curfews? We didn't have any in Dwardiem!" I reminded him, and he laughed, shaking his head at me. I hated when he did that.

"Yes, we did. 9:30 P.M. every night."

"Oh--" I looked for a way to deny this, raising a finger, when I realized he was right."Well, crap," I said, defeated. I heard a bark of laughed near my right ear. Spinning around, I saw Sirius, who was grinning at me. "Enjoy, eavesdropping?" even though I was fairly new here, I felt quite at home, and Sirius already made me comfortable enough to bicker with him constantly. Kind of like Juice, as a matter of fact. I glared at him as he shrugged innocently, though I saw him look to James and raise his eyebrows. I, in turn, raised on of my own eyebrows. "What was that look for?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side, then I looked to James.

Both were silent, and I rolled my eyes and began to walk with Lily again. The headboy told us our password ("Gobble-di Bobble-di Gook") and we all headed for our respective dormitories.

Four post beds! Can you imagine? I found one by the window and crawled in, instantly falling asleep. The glory of those mattresses! They were so comfortable, I dreamt I slept in it, dreaming I slept in it, and within that dream of myself dreaming, I dreamt I slept in it.

Unfortunately, this peace never lasted long.

I woke up some time in the horribly early hours,even though I'm a veryheavy sleeper, and I pulled on some jeans and a cami tank top. After throwing on a long hooded button-up sweater and some sneakers, I walked down to the common room, to find I wasn't alone.

There they were, the four of them, huddled around a table, whispering furiously under their breaths. Now, I had four choices—walk back up to the common room and try to fall asleep (yeah, right), let my presence be known and continue my way down, make my way down and scare them, or never let my presence be known until I can hold something against them. Yes, I am devious.

But, deciding that they seemed to be generally decent boys and I didn't want to lose their friendship too quickly, I snuck down until I was right behind the pudgy one. I stuck my wand under the table top and with a flick of my wrist, a gigantic, fat slug plopped right on top of their paper. Pettigrew, the lump, squealed high pitch like a little girl, and rammed his chair back into my stomach, and ran to dive behind a couch. The others followed suit, and while this probably would have been amazingly amusing, I was too busy trying to overcome the searing pain of the back of the chair pushing my intestines into my spine.

Nevertheless, I still managed to laugh.

Wheezing, I dropped to my knees, laughing so hard tears streamed down my eyes. Four gorgeous, macho, crafty (well, three of them anyway) grown boys screeching and screaming like little fan girls because of a slightly overgrown slug. How could I not laugh? Waving my wand through my tears and wheezing, the slug, and its slime, disappeared. I looked up to see the faces of four very angry boys.

"What in the bloody hell was that for!" Sirius asked incredulously, and after a few moments of silence, I couldn't hold it in anymore: I burst into laughter again, clutching my stomach as I keeled over, resting my forehead on the floor as I tried to get a hold of myself.

After a long moment, I managed to contain myself as I pulled myself up, still rubbing a very sore stomach. "Blimey, you sure twitch," I told Peter, who blushed furiously. I looked over to Sirius and grinned. "You all looked awfully comfortable. Just testing out a bit of a theory, is all," I explained. That didn't seem to suit them well at all.

"What kind of bleeding theory is that!" James demanded, and I flashed my teeth at him in a rough grin.

"To see if all guys could reach a high note. I must say, you could surpass the highest of the sopranos, James." He looked livid. Finally, I decided to be a bit more sympathetic. "It was only a bit of fun. Honestly, I thought you all would appreciate that."

"F… Fun!" Remus asked incredulously. "Scaring the living wits out of us?"

"From what I heard, you all don't have a problem in doing that to others," I told them testily, and they all looked a bit guilty.

"That's different! That's for payback!"

"Well, consider that payback. For using my other name," I concluded in triumph, folding my arms. Bloody hell, my stomach hurt!

Sirius looked like he wanted to wring something. Like a neck. How did I know, you ask? He was making the gesture, tugging violently on an invisible neck in front of him. Potter was running his hands through his hair furiously, as if he was hoping the electric static would send shocks to me. Remus was back to being a mute, and poor Peter was still shaking. I felt a bit guilty, and I leaned against the back of the couch. "I'm sorry," I told them truthfully, "But honestly, you'd think you'd be able to handle a little slug."

"Little!" Remus squeaked. "That thing was bigger than James' ego!"

"Oi!"

"No, from what I can tell his ego is bigger than that."

"Hey!"

"No, but you realize his brain doesn't have the mental capacity for anything else. It seems big, but that's because he has little of anything else," Remus reasoned, and I nodded, an understanding sigh escaping my lips.

"HEY! WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON, ANYHOW?"

We all sniggered, and I peered over at the table. "So what were you all working on, anyways?" from what I could tell, it was a ruddy bit of parchment, folded in many strange ways, with little dots moving about.

"N… N… Nothing!" Sirius stuttered, and snatched it from the table, attempting to stuff it in his pocket, to find he didn't have one. Good thing I had good reflexes. Thanks to my four years on the Quidditch team as a keeper. I stared at it. It was a map! And the dots had labels… "Is that really Dumbledore?" I asked incredulously, pointing to the dot, and Sirius snatched it from my hands as James stood in front of me.

"Did you know your eyes glisten like the stars in the moon's rays?" he asked huskily, but I was peering over his shoulder. Sirius was muttering something as he tapped his wand on the paper. James moved to block the view, and I looked up at him.

"Don't be a twat. How did you get that thing?" I was sincerely interested. Seeing that I wasn't disappointed or angry, James faltered. I could tell what was going through his mind. What am I going to do?

He tried for the seductive role again. "And your hair—it shines like a unicorn's mane in the twilight!" he pulled me towards him, and I rightfully pushed him away. He staggered back, with mock hurt. "You murder me with your coldness, your lovely, shameless, coldness!" he was saying while I looked around. The map was already out of Sirius' hands, and I looked around for it. He couldn't have put it in his pocket, for he didn't have any. So where did he put it? Then I noticed him adjusting his pants, and saw a rather rigid bulge. "Keep Junior down, there, Sirius," I snapped at him, and he blushed crimson.

Sirius' POV

Why couldn't I play seduce the girl so she wouldn't find out anymore about the map? I would have done much better, considering James has been hooked on Evans for so long, he's forgotten how to woo the female population. Honestly. "A unicorn's mane"? I can tell you right now no woman ever wants her hair to be called a mane. Learned that one second year. I had the slap mark on my cheek for a good couple of hours. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't mind a good snog session with Circe. She definitely has the whole "gorgeous" thing going for her.

"Keep Junior down, there, Sirius."

What? Oh. Crap! That's the map! Not…! It would have been a much bigger bulge, I assure you. "That is the map, Circe. What's going on in your mind, there? Want to come get it?" I couldn't help it. It was too priceless. I could see the wheels turning in her head. She wanted to see what the map really was all about, but she didn't want to put her hands down my pants. Of course, she did, (what girl wouldn't?) but she couldn't because the whole "I-have-to-get-to-know-you-better" thing. That was the excuse most girls used. They usually broke after a couple of days. Sure, she hasn't shown interest in me much, but who couldn't adore me? Seriously. No pun intended.

I felt a tug on my jeans and let out a very strange yelp-sound, almost like a squeak. The girl actually put her hand down my pants! I was so surprised that I didn't think to stop her. After all, I wouldn't mind her putting her hand down my pants any other time… but… "Bloody hell! Just can't keep your hands off me!" I sputtered, and she rolled her eyes. She's so sexy when she does that.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, twit. I wanted to see this," she told me, waving the map in front of my eyes. She opened it up and saw it was blank. "Where did it go?" she asked, and I smirked.

"Want to do a more thorough search in my pants, dearest? You might find the ink," I gave her my sweetest of girl voices, batting my eyelashes prettily as I clasped my hands together.

"Keep talking in that voice and I'll make it stick," she snapped, and while she was saying so, James pulled the map out of her hands. Though he's quite clueless at times, he sure knew when to get smart. She glared, putting her hands on her fists. "Fine, have it your own way," she told us all, and spun on her heel and started walking through the portrait.

"Wh... Where are you going?" James asked incredulously. She turned around slyly and I could tell wherever she was going, it wasn't going to benefit us at all.

"Going to see if that was really Dumbledore. Second floor, right?" she didn't seem as though she cared at all if she got caught or not, and stepped out of the portrait. It was only a few seconds of stunned silence before we all jumped out and scrambled after her.

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