Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank yoooos to everyone who read the last chapter! Special shout-out to XxX Fred Weasley's Wife XxX, lcd619, and Dreamless Girl, for adding my story to their favorites list! This means so much to me. I have up to chapter seven typed so I'm thinking of updating this story every week.

Disclaimer: I still do not own the Harry Potter universe, and never will.

The next morning I woke early for some strange reason, so I got dressed and went down to the common room. Going down the stairs I began singing an old Irish lullaby, in its original tongue, while putting my hair in a ponytail. I made it to the table and started singing another lullaby. I stopped though when I heard clapping. Wood had been sitting on the couch the entire time, and I had not seen him.

"Your singing is very beautiful, don't stop," Wood told me with a smile.

"Thanks, Wood," I said before checking my bag for a book.

"Listen, I'm sorry for what I did to you three years ago," Wood started.

"You don't need to apologize. I was the one who was naïve enough to think that we would be friends, then date, maybe get old together. I was foolish back then. I didn't know that the world was so different," I ranted.

"You liked me?" asked Wood.

"What does it matter you didn't want to be friends with me anyways. If you did you would have talked to me the next day," I pointed out. "Please excuse me, I'm not gonna miss another meal over you." With that said I went through the portrait hole without looking at Wood again.

Breakfast in the Great Hall was a bit odd for me. A lot of guys were looking in my direction, even some guys from Slytherin. My friends arrived a few minutes before McGonagall gave out schedules. My first class was Ancient Ruins with Professor Babbling.

I was early to class, and I soon regretted it. The only person that was in there was Taylor Haines. I've liked him since the end of my second year. Taylor kept his black hair in a shaggy way. His blue eyes were often staring in space because he was always thinking of a new idea. It was apparent why he was in Ravenclaw. I took a seat in the front row, only four seats away from Taylor.

"Hullo," Taylor said breaking the silence.

"Hey," I shyly answered.

"You're Natalie, right?" Taylor asked me.

I lamely nodded my head.

"I had this class with you last year." Taylor said. "So, how was your summer?" he suddenly asked me.

"It was great actually. My family played quidditch and we visited some relatives in America," I told him.

"I didn't think miss wizard chess champion and captain would be interested in quidditch," Taylor told me.

"Yes, well I do love beaters, it's my favorite position." I mentally swore. Taylor was a beater for the Ravenclaw team.

"You don't say," Taylor said curiously. Suddenly Taylor looked around frantically. When he was finished he looked at me and motioned for me to sit next to him. I grabbed my belongings and changed my seat. "I have a secret to tell you," Taylor told me in a hushed voiced. He motioned for me to lean in. By this point our faces were so close I could smell the iceberg mints in his mouth. "My secret is…beater is also my favorite position." I laughed at this.

I laughed so much that tears began to spill from my eyes. Seeing my face Taylor began to laugh also.

"Wanna know a real secret?" Taylor asked me seriously.

I nodded. Without warning he kissed me right on my lips. When we pulled away Taylor looked at me and said, "I've wanted to do that since the middle of last year."

I couldn't believe that he actually did that.

"Why?" I asked once I finally found my voice.

"Because that's when I realized how pretty you are," Taylor answered.

"Wow, this is amazing. Does this mean that you like me?" I asked.

Taylor laughed then said, "Yeah, something like that."

At that moment Professor Babbling decided to walk out of his office. "It's nice to see you again Ms. Finnigan and Mr. Haines. Getting here early shows the dedication that has earned you two the top marks in this class," Our professor said.

Within five minutes the class began to fill up. The girls immediately began talking to Taylor, which didn't surprise me. What did though was when two guys started chatting me up. From the corner of my eye I could see Taylor looking at me. I smiled at the thought of him being jealous.

"This year I will try a new seating arrangement," Professor said once everyone was in the class. "I discovered this seating style while in Japan for holiday. Two people sit right next to each other."

Two desks were placed side by side. "Now I feel like you kids are mature enough to chose your seat, so don't disappoint me," stated Professor.

Taylor turned to me then said," Let's get the seats all the way in the back" The only thing I could do was nod as Taylor raced to get the seats. When I finally made it to the back of the room Taylor was sitting in the farthest seats from Professor Babbling's desk. I also noticed that it was hard to see him from his desk. I assumed that he wouldn't be able to see us to easily either. For the most part I was focused on the review, that is, until Taylor kissed me on my cheek.

As I walked down the halls to my next lesson I was surprised yet again. Taylor began holding my hand. I looked up at him before sheepishly looking away; Taylor just gave me a wink in response.

"Are you two dating?" asked a girl from Ravenclaw.

"Yes, yes we are," immediately answered Taylor. I couldn't believe my ears. The hottest guy in my year was actually my boyfriend now, and happily letting it be known.

"Oh, congrats," the girl said before turning around.

"You're gonna be late to your next class if you walk me all the way to mine," I said to Taylor.

"That's fine. I wanna spend time with you since we're in different houses," he replied.

We stopped outside of Snape's classroom after a few minutes of chatting. "What do you have next?" Taylor asked me.

"Potions," I answered.

"Damn, I have charms," informed Taylor.

"Go to class, I don't want you in trouble because of me," I told Taylor. He kissed my cheek before dashing out of sight.

I walked into the room with a huge smile on my face, and a warm spot where Taylor's lips were not too long ago.

"You seem happy," stated Maria.

"That's because I'm dating Taylor Haines," I excitedly said in a whisper.

"You have got to tell me all the details," Maria quickly said.

I began to tell the story, and almost completed the whole thing, but Professor Dick-Head; I mean Snape saw us talking.

"Ms. Finnigan since you would like to talk so much why not explain to the class the properties of Spanish ashwalt," Snape said with a grin.

Luckily for me I had to translate an exercise in Ancient Ruins about Spanish ashwalt. After a few seconds I began to list all the properties. Slowly Snape's smile began to slide of his face. Once I was finished there was silence in the room.

"Five points from Gryffindor," drawled Snape.

"For what?" I shouted, "I answered your question correctly."

"For talking during class, and now another five points from Gryffindor for shouting," Snape answered.

I was about to say something, but Maria elbowed me in my sides. With one more look Snape turned from me and began going on about something lame.

"This year you are such a different person," whispered Maria to me.

"Like I said before, I'm tired of being timid all the time," I said back.

The bell rang, and Maria and I went made our way to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Hey Natalie isn't that Wood coming out of the class?" Maria asked me.

I looked in the direction, and saw Wood walking towards us. "Finnigan," he said.

"Wood," I said back in a monotone.

"You sure are seeing him a lot," Maria said to me. The only thing I could do was nod, and walk into class. To my surprise the class went by quickly, and I was on my way to Herbology in no time. I walked into greenhouse four, and found Taylor laughing with some of his friends. Carol, Sarah, and Nina glomped me when they came in because I hadn't had them in my last classes, something I thought was awfully odd. Taylor turned in my direction at the sound of the commotion.

"Natalie, we have another class together," excitedly said Taylor. Before I could say anything he grabbed my hand, and led me to where his friends were.

"Soooooo, you're the girl that has our Taylor in a tizzie," one of the guys said. The boy had blonde hair and hazel eyes. His hair was shorter than Taylor's and he had a small dimple in his chin. "My name is John Zimmerman," the boy said.

"I'm Scott Peters," another one of his friends introduced. This guy had a light brown crew cut, and ice blue eyes.

"Well nice to meet you guys. I'm Natalie Finnigan," I introduced.

"You know I'm glad that you're dating Taylor now. He can stop thinking about you out loud now," John told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Shut up," Taylor told John.

"Taylor used to sit in the common room or in our dorm and ask us what we thought you were doing. One time he asked us if we thought you liked lemon bars," revealed Scott.

"Thanks guys, you have officially made me looked stupid," grumbled Taylor.

"I think it's cute," I said before giving him a quick kiss. His friends began to wolf whistle, which caused Taylor to blush.

"Natalie, you have got to be in our group," Scott told me.

"Oh come on Natalie, it'll be fun," threw in John.

"Give it a rest you guys. If Natalie wants to sit with her friends let her," Taylor said in my defense.

I don't know what came over me, but for a split second I wanted to snog the hell out of him.

"How bout the seating goes Carol, Sarah, Nina, Maria, me, Taylor, John, Scott," I suggested.

"I wanna sit between Nina and Maria," John said.

"That sounds fine to me as long as I can sit between Carol and Sarah," Scott said.

"What is this Herbology hook-up?" I asked snorting at my own joke.

"No, it's just that we figured Romeo over here is gonna be flirting up a storm with you so we wanna have a little fun and flirt also. If we get a relationship out of it it's a bonus," explained Scott.

"Sounds fair enough to me then," I replied. "Hey girls get over here!" I called to my friends.

The girls came over and smiled at the boys, but it was obvious that they all knew that Taylor was the cutest out the group despite them all being easy on the eyes.

"My girlfriend had the brilliant idea for all of us to sit together," started Taylor.

All of my friends minus Nina looked confused. Maria looked as if she was enjoying a nice joke.

"Oh, I'm sorry for being rude," Taylor said looking at the faces of the girls. "This is Scott, John, and I'm Natalie's boyfriend Taylor"

"Boyfriend!" all the girls minus Maria exclaimed. They noticed that Maria didn't seem shocked, and looked at her.

"Natalie told me last period," Maria said answering the unasked question.

"I'm Nina, this is Maria, Carol, and Sarah," pointed Nina. She then smiled sweetly at John and Scott.

"It's nice to meet you girls," John said as if he didn't know who they were. Scott feigned ignorance to them by shaking each of there hands.

Professor Sprout came into the greenhouse, so I quickly told them the seating arrangement. Once everyone was in their seats we put our attention on the professor. Taylor was more interested in talking than in Sprout, which I couldn't blame him seeing as she was just doing a review of last year. The others were keenly listening to the class though.

"I'm so glad to be out of there!" Maria shouted once we were a safe distance from the greenhouse. She even did a little spin of joy

"We have a break now so what shall we do?" asked Sarah while twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to kidnap my lovely girlfriend during this time," confessed Taylor with a grin.

"Well then hurry up and snatch me," I said lightheartedly to Taylor.

Without warning Taylor grabbed my hand and began running away from the group. He didn't stop until we were at the castle steps. As we walked inside our hands were still linked, which grabbed the eye of many students.

"I really want to kiss you," Taylor suddenly said halting once we were in an empty hall.

"Then do it," I said back

Without wasting any time Taylor gently pushed me against a wall then looked at me. "You have no idea how pretty you are," whispered Taylor. He then pressed his lips against mine, causing my mind to go fuzzy. After a few seconds he began moving his mouth, and mine began working with his. Before long our kiss became feverish, and I found myself gasping for air.

"Are you enjoying your free period," Someone asked behind us.

I gave a perceptible groan as I knew exactly who it was. Taylor turned around giving me a clear view of Wood.

His face was unreadable, but his eyes looked sharp.

"Actually I am Wood," I said sweetly going back to kiss my boyfriend.

"I thought you had more decency than to go around snogging in public," tartly said Wood.

"Who do you think you are, my father? Last I checked before we started the hall was deserted. Also when is it "decent" to interrupt someone when they are snogging, and with the record you have there is no way you of all people can tell me about the wrongness of PDA," I angrily said.

"Oh come on Natalie when are you going to stop playing the victim. It was almost three years ago, so get over it," exasperatedly Wood said to me.

"Yes I know how long it's been! Also I have gotten over it," I informed getting really miffed.

"Then why is it that you always refer to me as Wood, and why is it that you're always choppy with me?" Wood asked me sounding genuinely curious.

"Just because I'm over it does not mean we have to be best mates," I said as if I was explaining something to a five-year-old.

"Can you just leave us alone," asked Taylor.

"Stay out of this," Wood harshly snapped at my boyfriend.

That did it for me. I was now way over the line of being miffed. "You have no right in snapping at Taylor, when he hasn't done anything wrong. If you have a problem with me leave others out of it," I screamed. My voice bounced of the walls hitting Wood. To my surprise he turned around and left without another word.

"Do you mind explaining what that was about?" Taylor asked me.

With a sigh I nodded and began to tell the story, giving every single detail along the way. When I was finished with the story Taylor just looked at me. He looked at me, while I looked everywhere but at him. Taylor cupped my cheek and brought my face up. Then he lightly kissed me and gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry Natalie. I'm sorry that you went through that," whispered Taylor. He then brought me into a hug. My head rested on his chest, and my fingers intertwined with his.

"Like I told Wood I'm over it now," I assured as Taylor began rubbing my fingers.

I didn't know how long we were going to be there for, and I didn't know what Taylor was thinking in our silence. I did know that I was happy at that moment, and that this year was going to be the start of my life.