A very pretty redhead woman—hardly more than a girl—tapped her wand on the edge of her desk. It was nearing the end of class and most of the students were talking and laughing with each other. When the gentle tapping had no effect on the class, the redhead made it emit banging noises.
"Focus, please!"
The entire class immediately fell silent, everyone's face solemn as they faced forward. Professor Merika eyed them sternly for a moment.
"Thank you," she said, giving them all a pretty smile. "I have an announcement to make. As you all know, Professor Delanor has stepped down as the Head of Gryffindor House, because he wishes to devote more time to Herbology. I am very honored to tell you that the Headmaster has asked me to fill the position. Dumbledore wanted to make the announcement himself, but he is unfortunately called away for the week."
"You are the new Head of our House?" Sirius Black asked, thudding down the front two legs of his chair. Professor Merika was only twenty—she had graduated from Hogwarts only three years before, and had immediately pursued a teaching career. She was now halfway through her second year of teaching, and it was a surprise that she was chosen to be the Head of a House.
"Yes, Mr. Black." Professor Merika said, and Sirius shot his best friend, James Potter, a thumbs up and a wink.
The bell rang and Professor Merika dismissed them with a flick of her hand. Remus Lupin hurried to catch up with James and Sirius.
"Padfoot, whaddya think?" he asked, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
"About what?" Sirius replied casually, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, gee, I don't know," Remus rolled his eyes, "You're going after Prof Merika. Whaddya think your chances are?"
"I'd say pretty good, Moony." Sirius winked at his friend. "I'm doing awful in Potions, aren't I? I think I need to take Remedial Potions."
"But, Sirius!" Remus protested, frowning. "It might mess up your O.W.L.s."
"Naw, I'll be fine. I'll bet Merika is a great tutor!"
All three laughed and continued on to their next class, Charms, in high spirits. Except for James. Idly he ruffled his, his thoughts in turmoil. Yesterday he'd seen someone—some girl—in the halls. She was slim and graceful, with glossy brown hair secured in a knot low on her neck. Her skin was the color of cappuccino and she had beautiful large hazel eyes. He couldn't recall ever seeing her before, and a casual inquiry of Remus revealed that she'd transferred from another school somewhere in America. James did not even know her name, but he found himself anxiously scanning the halls for a glimpse of her stunningly pretty face.
"Prongs? Hello?"
It was Sirius, tickling James's face with a feathery breeze from the end of his wand. James brought his mind back to what was happening. Their Charms professor had not arrived yet, and Peter Pettigrew had joined them. They were all looking at him a little strangely.
"I asked you—twice—what you want to do tonight. Moony and Wormtail don't care. I was thinking the Forbidden Forest?"
"Yeah, sure," James nodded, ruffling his hair again, "Sounds good."
Charms passed much the same as Potions, with James attempting a facade of normalcy with the other marauders. He did rather poorly on the charm they were doing, and a frowning Professor Flitwick assigned him extra homework at the end of class. Usually this would have bothered James, but today he just nodded and accepted it. Maybe if he did his homework in the library he would see the girl again.
"Excellent, we've got History of Magic now," Sirius said, rubbing his wand meaningfully. "With the Slytherins. I've got a wonderful little hex I want to try out on Snivellus. How 'bout you, James?"
"Right, Severus, er, Snivellus deserves it. I'll back you up with some good basic hexes," James replied, surprised to find himself saying what Sirius expected.
"You know, there's that pretty girl, what's her name, Lucy Evans?" Sirius winked at James. "I'll bet you'd have a good chance with her."
"I'd have a good chance with anyone, Padfoot." James replied, grinning. "I'm a damn good Chaser, I look great, I have fun, and I'm near the top of the class. Who wouldn't love me? I'll leave Evans to you—she's the redhead, right? She'd go great with Professor Merika."
The whole exchange was so normal, so usual. Sirius continued to joke and James continued to respond, James amazed that Sirius didn't notice something was wrong. Remus was muttering something to himself, a book open before him. What he was studying for, James had not a clue. Peter was just listening to Sirius and James, his mouth slightly open.
"I just forgot, I left that essay in the dormitory!" James lied, pretending to look through his bag. He suddenly felt that he couldn't breathe and the thought of trying to be friendly was more than he could handle. "Tell Binns where I am, he probably won't even notice I'm gone. Old crone, too bad he's already dead. Might make class interesting to have him keel over. Don't worry about me. Send Snivellus my regards."
Before anyone could say anything to him, James was sprinting away down the hall, up the stairs and down a corridor until at last he stood, panting slightly, before the Pink Lady. He gave her the password and clambered in. There was no one in the common room—everyone was at class, like he should be. He sighed and turned about, clambering back through the portrait hall. He arrived at History of Magic just as the bell rang.
"Before we get started today," Professor Binns said blandly, holding a piece of paper in front of him. He was simply reading it aloud to the class. What a bore. "I've been asked to introduce you to Miss Malia Lessknot. She is a new student here and I trust you will be of assistance to her. In 1756, the Convention of Underrepresented Witches was formed. The founding members were..."
James was not listening to Binns anymore as the ghost professor droned through his notes. He was too occupied staring at Miss Malia Lessknot. It was the beautiful girl he had been obsessed with for the past 24 hours. She was sitting in her seat, taking notes steadily, looking as gorgeous as ever. It took a moment for James to absorb what he was seeing. Malia was here, in History of Magic. Sitting on the other side of the room. She was not a Gryffindor. She was not a Ravenclaw. She was not even a Hufflepuff. Malia Lessknot, girl of his dreams, was a Slytherin.
