It was in Slughorn's Potions class, of all places, when he had first noticed her. The class was set the task of making Invisibility Potion, and already the room was filled with the rotting stink of potion making gone wrong. James's own was a deep purple colour that had the consistency of cement. He rolled his eyes as Peter's cauldron emitted a large, sudden spark, while Peter squeaked toppled off his chair in fright. He looked around the class and saw Snivellus sitting smugly against his chair, already finished. Snape saw him looking and gave him a cold smirk. James, not wanting to look at his ugly mug any longer than he had to, looked around at the rest of the classes efforts, none of which were any better than his own.
"Ah! Well done, well done again Miss Evans!" Professor Slughorn's voice rung through the classroom, the man himself bulging in delight. "You and Mr Snape over there seem to share a natural knack for potions! Twenty points each to Gryffindor and Slytherin!"
James smiled (twenty points for Gryffindor!) and looked at the girl, wondering if she would've had the same disgust as he would have had on his face if he had just been compared to Snape. She had sat back down on her chair, her cheeks blushing slightly and trying determinedly not to catch anyone's eye. He looked around to see if anyone else was looking at her but they had all gone back to their disastrous potion. James looked at his which was now bubbling at an alarming rate.
James stirred his potion at a loss for anything else to do. It turned steadily to darkest purple to a deep, slimy black. Sirius sniggered "That stuff looks lethal, mate." His face lit up as an idea seemed to strike him, "Fancy feeding some of it to Snivellus?"
James grinned, "What nasty stuff would you want it to do to him?"
"What nasty stuff wouldn't I want it to do to him?" Sirius muttered, as Professor Slughorn had just walked passed their table. He said nothing but raised his eyebrows at James's potion.
James decided to give up and looked lazily around the class. His eyes fell upon the girl again and he sat and just looked at her, not quite realising what he was doing. Her long red hair had fallen out of its ponytail and she kept tucking it behind her ears, although embarrassingly for her it just seemed to keep falling across the sides of her face.
"Who is she?" he thought. He couldn't remember really seeing her before.
For some reason he couldn't explain, he found her fascinating. He must have just sat watching her for a full minute until she finally sensed she was being watched. She turned around, a puzzled look on her face and quickly met his gaze. James looked hastily away. His knees felt weak and his heart was beating slightly faster. Thank god he didn't blush like some people did when they were embarrassed. He had only caught sight of her face for a second, so he quickly forgot what she looked like exactly, but he had seen her eyes. He had never seen eyes so startlingly green. Feeling slightly disturbed at the strange feeling that had arisen inside him, James pushed all thoughts of the girl out of his mind. But he wouldn't forget her.
A/N Hello again! Please review!