Jim shouldn't have spent most of his weekend thinking about the first period class on Monday. But first period was Potions. He found himself fantasizing about the psychotic redhead when he couldn't see her; even if the last time he had seen her she told him to shove a broomstick somewhere.

He'd missed her at breakfast and wondered where she was; hoping she wasn't ill or something that would prevent her from turning up to class. He realised he was smitten with her. She was fiery and interesting. The fact she was stunningly beautiful was just an added bonus. He knew it would probably be a mistake to try and pursue anything with her, especially if it was true that she was a murderer.

He decided he was going to try again with her. They couldn't go through the whole year being horrid to each other. At the very least he'd try to be her friend and put his lustfilled thoughts about her aside.

Jim checked his watch and realised it was time to head to the potions dungeon. He arrived like usual and she was already there sat at their desk. He headed towards her and sat down beside her. "Good morning," he began.

She glanced at him to let him know she knew he was there but nothing more.

He tried to push how beautiful, as always, she looked out of his mind. "Look, this is getting stupid," he said frankly. "Can we be civil to each other? I know we got off on the wrong foot, but..." He saw her black nailpolished finger tips as she pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and instantly his mind jumped to her running her fingers down his back as they made love.

She closed her eyes and turned her head as if to shield herself from herself from his thoughts. It's a shame that voodoo doll hadn't worked.

Jim realised he'd stuffed things up again with this his thoughts and he wanted to kick himself.

"You need to be neutered," she said frankly as she looked back at him.

Jim was going to defend himself but was interrupted as Snape entered the room and started explaining the day's potion.

No sooner had Snape finished explaining the lesson had Sarah picked up all the ingredients and began adding them to the pot.

Jim noticed she added 1 bezoar and he checked the book. "You're mixing it wrong," he told her.

"I'm not," she said confidently.

"The book says two," he pointed at it.

"The book is wrong," she told him.

"Really, darlin'?" he asked in a tone of disbelief.

"It's Sarah!" she objected. "Not 'darlin''. Which, for your information, has a 'g' on the end," she stated. "If you don't like Sarah then you can opt for Miss Kerrigan or Your Majesty."

He laughed at her suggestion of 'Your Majesty'.

"And I know your friends call me the Psychotic Redhead so you can tell them to stop, too," her voice was angry.

"With the way you act, can you blame them?" Jim asked seriously.

"The way I act?" she stopped making the potion and stared at him. "I'm new here and all you have done since I arrived is sexualise me."

"Well, I'm sorry I find you attractive," he said sarcastically. "But believe me, with that personality there is no way I'd want to get with you. I have some standards."

She glared at him angrily. "You know nothing about my personality," she stated sharply.

"I know you are angry, antagonistic, aggressive, and your mouth is too wide for your face," he hold her angrily. His earlier thoughts of thinking they could be friends had gone.

"What does that have to do with my personality? At least I don't hide my face with a dead ferret growing on it," she remarked at his beard. "And unlike you, I have washed more than once within the last year."

"Yeah, in sour milk," he told her. "Probably freshly squeezed from those," he looked down at her breasts.

"You are obsessed with these," she looked down at her own breasts and pointed to them. "They are just hanging flabs of fat and glands. If you want to be attracted to me; fancy my intelligence."

"Intelligence? You are making the potion wrong," he repeated.

"I'm not. The book says two; but that's over kill. You only need one so the mixture bonds with the Wolfsbane better," she explained.

"Then why does it say two?" he asked.

"Because the author probably realised the students wouldn't to able to accurately measure seven ninths of 1 measure of Octopus Powder," she added.

"So you didn't add the full amount of Octopus Powder either? It says 1 measure here," he criticized her.

"Potions sometimes mix better without full measures," she added. "Sometimes you have to have to use a bit of initiative and consider what ingredients you are using."

"You don't know what you are talking about," he told her as he tried to move their potion close to him.

"Get off it," she said through clenched teeth.

He stopped trying to move the potion and stared at her. "You glide around her like some type of Queen unwilling to give anyone the time of day. Treating us all like you are above us and we're just bugs to you."

"And you think you are some type of big brave mercenary just because you used to be captain of the quidditch team - that lost all the time!"

"We played by the rules. If Slytherin didn't have to cheat at everything they did we would have won," he glared at her. "Like you are cheating with that potion now."

She threw in the final ingredient and the potion made a small pop followed by a flash of green. She glared angrily at Jim and raised her hand high. "Professor Snape, we've finished."

He tried to pull her hand down. "No, we haven't. It's wrong."

"I'll be the judge of that," Snape said as he moved towards their potion.

Jim settled down in his chair and thought of how much of a bitch and a cow the psychotic redhead next to him was. He hoped he was reading his thoughts for she deserved to know how much he hated her right now.

Sarah ignored him and waited for Snape to inspect her potion.

"Very good, Miss Kerrigan, as always. 10 points to Slytherin," he said to her with a tiny hint of admiration. He turned to Jim. "Mr Raynor, you might want to consider listening to your partner's advice in future." He turned and left.

Jim frowned at Sarah. 'Smug bitch' he thought.