Marie arose early the next morning, and took great care to arrange her long curly hair in a somewhat elaborate bun, as well as to iron her robes and her pleated skirt. She packed her textbooks, and headed down the stairs of the Ravenclaw dormitory for breakfast. Her mother had always been a very strong woman she thought, as she made her way down the several flights of stairs. Gardenia Prince had raised Marie and her brother virtually by herself, as her father was often absent in their childhood. And when her father had passed away unexpectedly, her mother had taken over his business ventures. Throughout all of this, Gardenia had fulfilled her duties as a society woman, and her children could not have asked for a more attentive mother. Marie had, on the other hand, always been a rather fragile and sickly child. She sometimes felt so helpless, compared to empowered mother. And yet, Harry Potter, the Harry Potter was showing interest in her. Or perhaps he was only being polite. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel a little shiver every time she thought of him. It was hard not to be intoxicated by him… he was brave, funny, tall, handsome, great at quidditch, and the list went on. She arrived in Great Hall, and went to join a couple of the other early rising Ravenclaw girls.

As the owls started to come in, she spotted her mother's tawny owl. It landed next to her. She gave it a bit of food and it soon flew off, but not before dropping off a small package with a note attached. She opened the package, to find what looked to be a tiny container of lip balm. The note attached was in her mother's distinctive scrawl.

Dearest Marie,

I hope that you are maintaining your grades and enjoying yourself. The gift is infused with an extremely tiny amount of Felix Felicis. Perhaps it will bring you a small smile on a bad day.

Work hard, dear.

Love, Mum.

Marie smiled, and pocketed the little container.

Glancing over at the Gryffindor table, she saw Harry near to that red headed friend of his, and Hermione Granger. Hermione was widely known in Ravenclaw, and much resentment was directed at her for having the top marks in the grade. As she watched, a pretty red head sat on his other side, and his attention immediately turned to her. He said something, and she laughed, and leaned on his shoulder. Marie's reverie was broken by Carmella sitting next to her.

"Marie, hello?" Carmella snipped.

"Hmm?" Marie tore her eyes away from the Gryffindor table to her classmate.

"We've asked you twice! Whose grading curve is harder? McGonagall's or Snape's?"

"Snape's is harder, but Transfig. is a harder subject. Speaking of which… I have a bit of studying to do." She said, excusing herself, and leaving the other girls to their speculation. She hurriedly left the table headed out of the Great Hall. From there she headed out onto the grounds. The late September air was crisp, and she had left her cloak in her room, She headed over to the greenhouses, and let herself into Greenhouse 3. For some reason, Herbology had a very calming effect on her. She sat down next to a plant she knew to be harmless, and closed her eyes. She came often to the greenhouses when she was feeling anxious of stressed. Her mother may have been able to cope with her emotional problems on her own, but Marie felt comforted in the greenhouses. The immense amount of time she had spent there earlier in her earlier years at Hogwarts had lead to exemplary Herbology grades, and she attempted to maintain them the best she could.

"Maybe things happen for a reason." She thought to herself, as she picked up her schoolbooks to head to her first class. she paused for a second at the door, took out the lip balm, and rubbed a little bit onto her lips. She was excited about her next tutoring session with Harry, but until then she would just have to look forward to Charms, right before lunch. It just so happened that Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had it together.

---

Harry had been having a good day. He still felt sort of exhilarated from his late night broom ride the previous night. Not to mention that he had slept like a log, his dreams free of Voldemort, Cedric and the like, which was quite unusual for him. His first period class was transfiguration, in which he was trying to concentrate, but kept being distracted. Actually, it was Ron's hair that was doing the distracting as it kept reminding him of Ginny's. Which was a little disturbing, not to mention embarrassing. Finally, McGonagall gave the homework assignment (a foot of parchment on wand paths for inanimate to animate transfiguration.)

"Mr. Potter" McGonagall called to Harry as he made to leave the classroom.

Harry sighed apprehensively and went over to her desk.

"Yes, Professor?" He asked.

"How has the tutor that I set up for you been working out?" She asked him.

An image of Marie flashed through his head, and his cheek tingled a second, before he answered, "Perfectly, Professor."

"Excellent. Have a good day Potter." McGonagall dismissed him with a satisfied smile.

The next few periods went rather slowly, and per usual. Ron had trouble staying awake. Hermione answered enough questions for the three of them. Neville knocked over his cauldron during potions, and Snape docked 20 points from Gryffindor. Even Hermione seemed a little less attentive in History of Magic, as she polished her prefect badge on her robe, a little distractedly.

It wasn't until Charms, right before lunch, that things got interesting. Harry sat down towards the back of the class in his usual spot, but when he glanced at the desk to his right, it was not Ron sitting next to him.

---

Marie sat calmly taking notes, and not looking at Harry Potter, right next to her. On the inside, however, she was jumping with excitement. She had decided that had she learned anything from Gardenia Prince, it was to seize the day. Despite that disgruntled red haired boy, whose seat she had stolen, glaring at her, her idea had worked perfectly. It wasn't much of a plot, she knew. Perhaps Harry wasn't interested in her. Boys usually liked funny, confident girls, and she was pretty sure that she didn't fit that definition. However, sometimes it was worth taking a risk. And something told this was it. She mustered all her courage, turned her head, and shot Harry a big smile.

Harry half grinned back at her, before turning back to the parchment in front of him.

From the other side of Harry, Hermione Granger cocked her head at Marie and raised an eyebrow. Marie gave her a tentative smile, and both girls turned back to their notes.

Marie tried her best not to tune out Professor Flitwick, it was hard however, as she kept glancing at Harry, and at least once, she was sure that she'd seen him do the same. Her logical Ravenclaw self knew better than to let her emotions distract her from her schoolwork, but today she was feeling impulsive, and so far, it had seemed to have brought her nothing but good.

---

Harry's heart was beating faster and he felt a little flushed. His pretty and quiet new friend had sat next to him.

"Maybe she did like our outing last night. I certainly didn't mind it." He thought.

After class, he exited next to her, and pulled her aside.

"Hey," He greeted.

"Hi Harry." She said and smiled at him.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go on a walk before lunch?" He asked her, hoping he sounded more suave than he felt.

To his pleasure, a tinge of pink appeared on Marie's pale complexion, and he suddenly felt a surge of confidence.

They walked out, and followed the shore of the Great Lake, talking casually. Harry found it unusual that he could talk so candidly with her. He knew he was attracted to her— Harry stopped himself before that train of thought could progress. They were merely friends. Still, she did look awfully nice today. He related the story of Neville's potions accident to her, to which she responded,

"Snape is an awfully bitter man. I can hardly believe I'm related to him!"

"You're related to Snape!" He exclaimed, almost recoiling for a second. This beautiful girl was related to a thing like Snape? Genetics can be so unbelievable on occasion!

"You know most purebloods and even half bloods are somehow related. Snape was my mother's cousin. It certainly doesn't get me any favors though" She laughed a little.

They walked and talked for a while, until noticing how close to class it was getting, they walked back towards the castle. On an impulse, Harry took Marie's delicate hand, and it was almost as if an extremely pleasant shock ran through him. They held hands as they started to head back to the castle. Marie stopped and pointed at a small clump of oddly colored algae on the edge of the lake.

"Look, Harry. I'm pretty sure that Professor Sprout told us--" But Harry had tuned her out. He saw her lips moving, and he started to lean forward, he just wanted to kiss her, but he quickly caught control of himself. Maybe he liked her… just a little. And he sure wasn't planning on getting better at Herbology any time soon. They held hands all the way back to the castle, and when it was time to part ways, he hardly wanted to let go.

---

The rest of the day passed without event, and that evening, the Quidditch team's practice seemed extraordinarily better that usual. They were putting their best efforts as well, and there were none of the usual careless errors that they seemed to usually make. At the end of the practice, everyone was exhilarated.

"Amazing job everyone!" He called to his teammates, as they high-fived each other and headed towards the lockers.

Harry hopped off his broom, and saw a grinning Ginny running towards him. He picked her up at the waist and twirled her around, smiling as largely as she was.

"You were amazing, Gin!" He congratulated her.

She just stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. Somewhere, behind his utter bliss, Harry realized that he had a problem.

A/N: Hey Guys! If you like, hate or have concrit, please drop me a review! Thanks!