I'm so sorry for the delay in writing! My roster will hopefully be changing soon, so I should have some more time up my sleeve. I hope to write more with this story and some other stories.

As always, anything you recognise is owned by JK Rowling - I only own the storyline & Nicole Blakefield :)

The next day was our first day of Hogwarts. I was not usually an early riser, however I was too excited to sleep much at all. So I got up and got ready for the day, changing into my robes and tying my hair up. As I brushed my teeth, I could hear the other girls moving around in the dormitory.

Walking out, Lily gave me a weird look. "Nicole, why on earth are you up? You never get up early!"

"I couldn't sleep, I'm too excited!" I laughed at Lily, who rolled her eyes. "Come on Lil, hurry up so we don't miss breakfast!"

"Nic, I might strangle you if you don't turn your volume down." Lily laughed, as she walked into the bathroom to get changed.

We walked downstairs with Alice, Marlene and Mary talking excitedly about what we might get to do.

"I wonder what we will have today…" Mary mused.

I shrugged as we all sat down at the Gryffindor table. I placed pancakes onto my plate and loaded them up with maple syrup. As I took my first bite, I felt a tap on my shoulder; I turned around and saw James Potter grinning at me.

"Morning Nikki-Noo!" James grinned.

I rolled my eyes at the cheesy nickname. "Really Potter? You're lucky I'm in a good mood today."

Sirius walked past laughing. "What're you gonna do Blakefield, hex him?"

"I played soccer – muggle sport – before coming here, so just think what my kicking skills are like." I turned back to my breakfast.

"Fiesty. You just make me love you more Blakefield." James laughed as he walked over to Sirius.

I rolled my eyes again and continued eating, but I noticed Marlene, Alice and Mary all looking at me quizzically. "What?"

"Um, Nicole. You wanna explain what just happened?" Marlene asked, taking a sip of tea.

Lily answered before I finished swallowing my mouthful of pancakes. "Potter has already asked Nicole out!"

"No!" exclaimed Alice.

"What?!" Mary was in shock.

Alice smiled shyly. "It's kind of sweet."

I raised my eyebrows at her, but at that moment, Professor McGonagall came and handed us our timetables; I saw that we had Charms first.

The first day was incredibly busy; Lily and I found out pretty quickly that there was a lot more to magic than just waving a wand. In charms, Professor Flitwick started us off with basic wand movements, Professor McGonagall made sure that we understood that Transfiguration was one of the hardest subjects we would take and in potions, we started making a basic potion.

That evening in the common room, Lily, Alice and I were working on our homework for Potions (write the correct composition of the Potion to Cure Boils and what the key ingredient was). Potter and his friends were playing around in front of the fire, making a lot of noise and being generally rowdy.

"Hey, Blakefield!" Potter called across the common room.

I decided to ignore him and asked Lily to pass me the potions textbook next to her.

"NIKKI-NOO!" Potter called, louder this time. A few people laughed, but I gritted my teeth and ignored him again.

"N-I-C-O-L-E!" Potter yelled. "Don't ignore my love!"

I slammed my book shut, stood up and walked over to him and growled, "what do you want? I'm trying to do my homework."

James grinned. "Yeah, but unlike you, I'm trying to have fun."

"And you, unlike me, are a git. So what do you want, or you will find out how hard my kicks are."

Sirius laughed, even Remus cracked a smile. "She's got you there Jamesie!"

"Go out with me Blakefield?" James gave me a ridiculous puppy-dog look. "Please?"

"No, you're immature and we're eleven Potter. I have a bit more sense." I said, grumpily. I turned on my heel and walked back to Alice and Lily.

"The usual?" Lily asked.

I nodded, I was starting to get a headache. "I think I'm going to have a hot shower and turn in early."

Alice looked at me, concerned. "Are you ok Nic?"

"I'll be fine, just need a hot shower I think."

I walked upstairs to the girls dormitory and shut the door. It was only the first day of school and I already was in a foul mood; I had a feeling Potter would not be giving up any time soon.

Please R&R - I am trying to write more this year... 2023 goal is to write more!