You know the drill –Harry Potter is owned by the amazing Jo Rowling. Obvious things you don't recognize are from my imagination. I worked them into her amazing tales.

Lily Evans was excited to see her friends after the summer. They congratulated her on becoming Head Girl over and over again. At first she was glad for the compliments and thought them to be nice, but after awhile, she thought they were becoming old. She desperately wanted to change the subject, and when an opportunity presented itself, that's exactly what she did.

"We're not gonna be beaten this year by Slytherin," she said, waving a hand. "I don't think I could handle it if they won the House Cup."

Her friends exchanged dark looks. Lily scanned the Slytherin table, and her eyes fell upon her old friend Severus. Her chest got a sudden squeeze, but she ignored the feeling.

"Lils, who cares if we win or not?" Lauren, a good friend of Lily's said. "This is our seventh year. We're supposed to have fun."

Whereas Lily was very serious about school, Lauren was not. In fact, Lauren had only scraped a few OWLs in their fifth year. Lily had passed everything with flying colors, and, much to her despair, so had James Potter.

"No, Lauren, this is a time where we prepare for the future. Plus, I have my Head Girl duties. Dumbledore entrusted me with a very important job." After saying that, Lily's eyes darkened. "And you forget who's Head Boy. I'm gonna have to work extra hard to keep him in line and not let him abuse his new power."

The girls around her snickered.

"Ah, but Potter really is cute," Lauren cooed.

Sometimes people wondered how Lily and her had become such good friends.

"Oh, sure he's attractive, but he's a total git," Lily said in response. "He's got the biggest head in the entire school too." At that, she shot him a look and quickly turned away when she saw he was smiling at her. "Sometimes I wish someone would beat him so his head could deflate some."

"How about you deflate it?" Lauren suggested.

Lily raised an eyebrow.

"You guys are gonna be alone together a lot," Lauren continued, and Lily shuddered. "Learn his weaknesses, and then use them against him."

Lily frowned. "That's low. I think I'm above doing something so cruel."

Lauren smirked.

"Lily, hun, you're defending James Potter. You don't want to hurt him, do you?" She asked.

At those words, Lily felt like her red hair had leaked into her face. Lauren couldn't have been more wrong. She hated Potter. In fact, studying someone's weaknesses seemed like the sort of thing he'd do. She wasn't about to fall to his level.

"It has nothing to do with him being Potter," she snapped. "I'm just trying to take the high ground."

Lauren smiled and stretched out her arms. Then she pushed her plate away from her.

"Ah, James is a jerk, and he's arrogant, but he has good intentions. I actually think he's calmed down a lot recently. You know, have you seen him yet this year hex Snape just for the heck of it?" She asked.

Lily also discarded her plate, but she glowered at her friend.

"That's because the term just started today," she hissed. "You don't know Potter like I do. He doesn't constantly bother you in hopes of getting a date like he does me. Sometimes I wonder why he hasn't just given up. He can't be so stuffed that he actually thinks he's getting anywhere with me."

"Oh, Lily, what if he does get somewhere with you, though? You're not bringing in the fact that you're going to be alone together a lot into the equations. You may get to know the real James Potter, and you may find out that he's just your type."

Her friend's words made her want to be sick. She snuck a peak at Potter again, just hoping he wouldn't see her. Luckily for her, he was busy talking to Sirius. The two were in a very animated conversation. She watched them for a while, and she saw that they were using their fingers to make their noses look bigger and crooked. That horrible squeeze took control of her chest once again.

Why was she getting upset? Who really cared if they made fun of Severus? It wasn't like they were friends anymore. Severus had joined up with his freaky little Death Eater friends, and he had also called her a mudblood that one time. Why did it bother her that Potter and his pals were mocking him?

But as she tried to reason with herself, Lily only felt worse.

Sirius thought he had been doing a good job pretending to be interested in the conversation around him. He simply nodded when Wormtail talked about something stupid. This was strange, because usually Sirius would have laughed at him by now. The only person who recognized the problem was James.

"What's with you, Padfoot?" James whispered as Remus began talking with a fellow classmate. Wormtail was scarfing down his food, too engaged with that to pay attention. "You've seem a little off since we got here."

Sirius had told James everything since they were eleven. James knew him better than anyone else in the world, and yet he didn't feel like sharing his problems with him just this once.

"Um…see those girls over there?" Sirius asked, pointing at the group of girls that included Doyle. "What year are they in?"

"Why? Are you mad because you haven't slept with any of them yet?" James snickered. When he saw Sirius's face, he held up his hands. "Only joking, mate! Let's see, that girl over there is Harter. She has an older sister in Ravenclaw that I took out on a date once. She said her sister and her were three years apart, so I'd say we were looking at a group of fourth years."

For the second time that night, Sirius almost spat out his food.

"Fourth years?" He gasped. "Are you sure? They look older than that!"

James shrugged. "I'm pretty sure. I also recognize another one of the girls. She's a fourth year for sure."

"What about the girl in the glasses? What year is she in?" Sirius asked urgently.

"Katharine Doyle? I know for a fact that she's a fourth year. I've never talked to her, but she caught my interest when I heard McGonagall talk about her once. She's not too sociable, but McGonagall said that her marks were spectacular. In fact, they were so good that she said she could probably take fifth or sixth year courses now. I guess in the end the staff figured she should stay in her regular classes, though. I hear she takes a few extra advanced courses."

"Really? Why didn't I hear about this?" Sirius inquired.

"Because this was two years ago. She was a second year, and twelve or thirteen year olds didn't really grab your attention," James replied with a smirk.

Sirius ignored his comment. "I wonder how she got so smart."

"Look at her. She has her nose in a book all the time. If you find a time where she isn't studying, then I'll kiss the giant squid. People try to befriend her, and she certainly seems nice enough, but she naturally pushes them away so that she can keep doing her studies. Nothing else matters to her."

"What if we tried to befriend her…?"

"Padfoot, my friend, it wouldn't even surprise me if she had never heard of the Marauders. She's that oblivious to the rest of the school. I don't think she even comes to half the Quiditch games."

Sirius's stomach dropped. Was there really a girl who had never heard of him before? He stole a glance at her, and sure enough, she had her face hidden in her book again. The book was for advanced potion making –it was a N.E.W.T leveled book. Was she using that book for a little bit of light reading?

James finished his meal and got to his feet.

"I gotta go," he said. "Lily and I have work to do. See you around, mate."

He flashed Sirius a smile before hurrying off to the other side of the table to get Lily. When James was gone, Dumbledore rose to his feet, and the dishes were clean in an instant. He then wished all the students good night and bid them off to bed. Sirius, scowling to himself, got up with the others and followed them out the door. Even though James wasn't with him, he began to enjoy himself with talking to Remus and Wormtail.

Katharine felt like she hadn't read enough from her book when the Headmaster called for bedtime. Sure, she had read it all the way from London to Hogwarts, and she also read it during most of dinner, but was that really enough?

She sighed as she reached up to take off her glasses. She grimaced when she felt a headache coming on. She was used to these. She loved reading, but staring at a page for several hours gave her a headache. She put her glasses back on and went to follow the others back to the girls dormitory. She could get some more reading and studying in before bed and hopefully during breakfast.

Katharine may have been small due to her lack of appetite. It wasn't that she purposely refused to eat –she was just always studying, and that included studying at meal times too. She knew she was given strange looks for always having a book, but she didn't care. Her studies were way too important to her to really pay much attention to what the others had to say about her.

Ever since she was a little girl, her extended family had doubted that she would have enough magic to even be accepted into Hogwarts. Her father had been in Gryffindor like her, and he came from a large family of very skilled witches and wizards. Everyone expected a lot from him, but he never quite acquired the same talent for wandwork that his family had. Then, after he left Hogwarts, he fell in love with a woman who just happened to be a squib. This caused an uproar in the family. Whereas her family certainly wasn't over obsessed with blood purity like the Slytherins were, they were still disappointed that their son had married someone without any magical ability. They viewed it as a disgrace to the family name.

Katharine often looked at it with mixed feelings. Her family strongly disagreed with the way the Slytherins treated others, and yet, in a way, they were also looking down on others.

Being the daughter of a less than efficient wizard and a squib made people wonder if Katharine was going to have any magical blood in her. While she was growing up, she would often hear the older generations discussing what they would do with her if she wasn't allowed into Hogwarts. They often spoke of these things in front of her, and they thought she didn't understand what they were talking about, but she did.

Her cousins also knew, and during family get togethers, she was always pushed aside and referred to as "the squib" by the other kids. Their taunts stayed with her throughout her childhood, and she believed that she wouldn't be going to Hogwarts. Whenever magical things happened around her, she always attributed it to coincidence or perhaps the other kids' magic working nearby her.

But, much to everyone's surprise, when she turned eleven, she got a letter to attend Hogwarts.

This news overjoyed her and her parents, but there was still much murmuring in the family. They wondered if Hogwarts had made a mistake and continued to doubt whether or not she'd be able to keep up in classes. It was because of this that Katharine became obsessive with learning as much magic as she could and proving them all wrong.

As she thought of her past, she felt tears fill her eyes. Covering her face with her book so no one could see, she wiped her eyes on her robe sleeve. It does no good to feel sorry for yourself, she told herself. She had learned from a young age that people who constantly moped were often left in the dust. If you wanted to improve at something, you had to work at it.

She realized that she had fallen slightly behind with the group. She hurried forward to catch up with them. The last thing she wanted was to be caught by the grumpy caretaker. It seemed like a job requirement at Hogwarts to be ill tempered if you were going to become one.

Her body slammed into something hard, and she fell backwards, hitting the ground in a painful heap. Her book flew out of her hands, and she saw that she had run directly into a person's back. The person turned, and she quickly readjusted her skirt to preserve her modesty. She was about to mutter an apology, but then she saw who the person was.

Sirius Black.

Not again! This was the third encounter she had had with him since the term started! Was he doing this to tease her? She knew for a fact she wasn't his type of girl. Sure, she had looked at him from afar a few times and smiled to herself, but she knew it was all just wistful thinking. Now she was beginning to think that not only was she not his type, but that he was going out of his way to laugh at her. Maybe he got bored with the Snape boy and needed someone else to pick on. Who better to do that to than the bookworm fourth year?

"Oh!" She squeaked. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Black! Please forgive me!"

He raised one eyebrow and held out a hand for her to take. She looked at it for a while like it was some poisonous plant found in Herbology.

"I'm trying to help you up," Sirius said. She thought his deep voice sounded slightly annoyed.

She hesitantly reached out and took his hand. Then he pulled her to her feet. As he did so, she wondered if her face was on fire. She also noticed how easy it was for him to lift her –no doubt about it, Sirius Black was very strong. After picking her up, he knelt down to grab her book. He looked at the title.

"Doing a little bit of advanced potions, eh?" He said, sounding slightly amused.

"I need to learn all I can!" she squeaked. "I need to be prepared for the real world after I leave Hogwarts!"

Sirius eyed her in a certain way she couldn't quite decipher. It almost looked like interest, but she wasn't going to fool herself.

"Your name's Doyle, right?" He said, and she quickly nodded. "Katharine Doyle? I heard that you're the smartest in your year. Maybe you could even rival the fifth year students. It makes me wonder…"

Her feet felt cold and empty –she thought that all the blood had risen to her face.

"But you're the best wizard here, Sirius!" She said quickly. Then she shut her mouth. She had just called him by his first name! She knew she didn't have the right to do that! She knew she wasn't good enough!

But this seemed to please Sirius.

"I was beginning to think you didn't know my name," he said with a brilliant smile. "You know, I wouldn't be against studying sometime in the dorm. We could help each other study."

"What about your friend Potter?"

"Trust me; Potter is gonna be a bit busy this year chasing after Lily. I'm sure to have some time to myself."

Her whole world felt like it was turning upside down. Ever since she started at Hogwarts, she had dedicated her life to studying. Now the famous Sirius Black was actually acting interested in her. When she looked at him, she almost melted, but then a nagging voice entered her head.

He's arrogant! Lily told you about him once! Him and Potter both are jerks, and Black is known for dating girls and then dropping 'em like flies!

But when she thought more on it, it wasn't like he was asking her out. He was asking her if she wanted to study. Would there really be any harm in doing something so innocent? She could actually learn quite a bit from him. She should seize the opportunity to be tutored by one of the most brilliant minds in the school. This could have been the opportunity of a lifetime, actually…

"I…I…" she stumbled over her words. "I don't know, Mr. Black… I'll have to see…"

And with that, she apologized once more and ran off, leaving behind (though she didn't know it) a very distraught Sirius Black.