Jim was sat in the great hall pondering which set of homework to begin first when he noticed someone stood in front of him.

"Hey, Jim," Ariel Hanson said softly as she put her books down in front of the empty chair opposite him. "Can I sit here?" she asked. Her brown hair was in its usual low ponytail and her Ravenclaw uniform was immaculate as always.

"Erm," he didn't really want her to. "Sure," he said out of obligation. They'd been an item last year for a bit but beyond being good in bed she didn't really interest him that much. She was a nice girl, and one day she'd make someone happy, but not him.

She smiled and sat in front of him. "I tried to find you on the Hogwarts Express," she told him.

"I was... preoccupied," he smiled.

"I heard," she laughed. "One of the new Ravenclaw girls, Leah, told me the psychotic redhead turned you into a pig."

Jim frowned. Did everyone know?

"I missed you over the summer," she said with a smile, changing the subject.

"Yeah?" he asked flirtatiously. He wondered if Ariel wanted to try and rekindle their relationship. Since things weren't going that great trying to get the redhead he would be open to the idea of a bit of fun with Ariel.

"I wanted to come by over the summer but your mother..." she trailed off softly. "How is she?"

"Still sick," Jim said solemnly. "The doctors don't think they can do anything for her, but she is adamant she wants to see me graduate."

Ariel offered him a friendly smile. She reached her hand out and placed it on top of his. "I'm here for you if you want to talk." She stroked her fingers against his skin. "Or anything else," she said seductively. "It was a lonely summer."

"Oh?" Jim smiled.

"I was thinking of making it an early night tonight. Before my roommates come back," she said softly.

Jim wasn't listening. He had noticed the redhead walk in and he was now looking over Ariel's shoulder at her. He couldn't help but follow her with his eyes. Damn her for being so amazingly sexy. He found it hard to believe someone so beautiful could have killed a professor.

Ariel saw Jim's attention shift and she looked behind her and spotted the redhead. She frowned. What did the redhead have that interested Jim so much? She'd heard from Jim's friends he was after her - but really? She wasn't even that pretty.

Sarah heard people thinking about her and she turned to look at the offenders. She glared at both Jim and Ariel before turning and walking to the Slytherin table.

Ariel looked at Jim and waited for his attention to shift back to her.

Jim finally allowed himself to stop looking at the redhead and looked at Ariel. He realised she was angry at him.

"I can understand why she turned you into a pig," Ariel said angrily and stood.

"Come on," Jim said innocently but Ariel didn't listen and vanished off back to her table. He wanted to kick himself; he had a girl throw herself at him and yet all he could think about was the redhead. Sarah Kerrigan. The girl who hated him and would never end up in his arms. He looked over to her again and watched her chat with her friend. He wondered what types of things she was talking about right now. What were her interests? Hobbies? What was her favourite colour?

"He's a pig," Sarah declared to Nova.

"He's eighteen and you're hot," Nova laughed. "Can you honestly say the other men in this school aren't thinking about you that way?"

"Not as pornographically as he does," she declared. "He looks like a nice guy, he even tries talking like a nice guy, but beneath that he's all pig."

"Have you looked deeper?" Nova asked.

"No way," Sarah said. "I'd wash but I'd never be clean if I tried." She opened up her potions book. "I just have to get through this one lousy class with him. Hopefully I won't have to see him any other time."

"It's a shame he's looking at you right now, isn't it?" Nova smirked.

Sarah raised her head and saw he was looking directly at her. She frowned as he gave her a smug grin. She raised her book to block his view of her face. "Urgh, I hate him," she remarked.

"You should take it as a compliment," Nova offered up as she moved her eyes from him to Sarah. "He's good looking and quite popular from what I hear. Plus... according to some girl..." Nova held out her hands and measured out a length of about seven inches in the air.

Sarah glanced at Nova's hands then shot a look of displeasure towards her face. "I already know he's a big dick," she remarked.

Nova laughed.

Sarah's expression turned darker. "You know the rumours about us Academy kids have been circulating, right?" she asked quietly.

"I had heard," Nova said dully.

"He knows I killed that professor," she said grimly.

"And he's still interested?" Nova asked. She was both surprised and impressed.

"He's a pig - he's only interested in my looks. He probably doesn't know how or why," Sarah added. "He probably doesn't care."

"He'd probably care about how you killed him," Nova added. "If he knew that he'd certainly stop those thoughts."

"I'm going to bed," Sarah declared in frustration.

Nova raised an eyebrow. "It's like 7pm," she stated.

"He's got me all riled up," she declared as she threw her book into her bag.

"Ohhhh," Nova realised what she wanted to do in their room.

"I meant angry," she quickly added. "I wouldn't do that because of him. Ever."

"But..." Nova put her hands out seven inches apart again and smiled.

Sarah pulled a grossed out face.

"You might be less angry if you did," Nova added.

"I can't hear you anymore," she said as she left the table.

"Don't forget we have flying lessons tomorrow morning," Nova shouted at her.

She turned her head back and smiled to let Nova know she'd heard. She headed for the door and made a conscious effort to avoid the pig-boy but she could hear his thoughts about her. He was watching her again and admiring her behind view. She couldn't be bothered to glare at him again; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

When she got to her bedroom in the Slytherin Dungeon she thought about what Nova had said and quickly dismissed the idea away. She went to bed and quickly fell asleep.