"Good morning, Sunshine!" I recognized the voice immediately.

"Jane, if you value your life, you will leave now," I mumbled into my pillow.

"I'm part cat, so I've got nine," she announced proudly as she unwrapped me from my cocoon of blankets. "Now, get up. We've got to get ready."

I whined and complained my way through a shower, breakfast, and in a car on our way to the store. My mom always liked to drive places instead of apparition. My dad thought she was nuts, but I personally agreed with my mom. Apparition sucks.

We walked around store after store as Jane and Georgie, who had showed up at an ungodly hour at my house, too, read stuff off of a list. My mom and I were in charge of hunting down the items.

Before I knew it, it was already 3 in the afternoon when we got home. Jane glanced at the clock in horror. "We've got to get you ready!"

I protested, "I am ready. Mom, back me up."

My mom just laughed. "Honey, let them have some girl time. Besides, you never do your hair or makeup! It'll be fun."

Jane and Georgie giggled as they dragged me upstairs. I looked to my dad. "Help!"

My dad just shooed me away, winking.

I announced to Arabella, who stood waiting in my room, that I was adopted. She just laughed. "Yeah, except you look exactly like your dad."

I looked at my face in the mirror. It was an Italian face, except for my stupid nose. My dad's grandparents had migrated from Italy to the States sometime in the last two centuries, and, as a result, I was pretty damn Italian. Not that that mattered to my British friends that much. But I was proud that I looked it. I wasn't necessarily pretty, but I thought I had a look about me that demanded a second glance.

But, you know, I probably could've been pretty, if it hadn't been for my Goddamn nose.

It was my mom's nose. She's very petite, and it looked out of place with my large eyes, mouth, chin, cheeks, and hair. I hated it. I spent at least a half an hour explaining this and complaining about it to my friends as the dumped me in another shower, the reason for which I couldn't fathom, and pulled and yanked on my hair.

"We get it!" Carly yelled from my closet, where she was trying to find something descent. "If you don't stop complaining about your bloody nose, I'll hex it off your face for you." She then proceeded to throw different clothes at Georgie, who examined each piece of clothing critically. Jane was busy setting up makeup.

Ary just kind of sat there and gave her opinion. She wasn't a makeup person either, but she wanted to try tonight for Eddie. I rolled my eyes. "I feel betrayed, you know."

Ary just rolled her eyes back. "Grow up," was her retort. Suddenly she started laughing. Like, really laughing. The kind of laughing that makes you cry.

"What's the matter?" Jane poked her. She turned to me. "Do you think she needs to go to St. Mungo's?"

Ary sat up and just pointed at me. "Do you know what she did last night at the Burrow?"

Jane, Georgie, and Carly all perked up like dogs at this. I was horrified. "Oh my God, please, for the love of God…"

They ignored me.

"So, Dad thought it would be a bit of fun if we played an old geezer vs. young geezer quidditch match. Linny was Seeker on our side, and Mr. P was on Dad's. It was 70-60, in our favor, when, suddenly, Mr. P and Lin are neck and neck. Mr. P started inching ahead though, so you know what Lin does? She launches herself off of her broom," she paused to try and contain her cackling, "and onto James Potter."

Jane, Georgie, and Carly thought this was hilarious. They were gasping for air, tears down their face, rolling on the ground laughing. I just rolled my eyes and stalked into my closet, looking for something. I pulled out a skirt and tank top.

"And then, they fell off the broom, and on top of one another!"

A new round of laughter started. I just rolled my eyes and shoved my tank on. I marched out of the closet. "Well?" I demanded. "How does it look?"

The sobered for a minute and judged it. Jane piped up, "Shorter skirt, longer sleeves and a looser shirt."

"Yeah," Carly snickered, "shirt makes you look like a bint."

I threw her a look, but went back into the closet to search for this mystical shorter skirt. I tossed the tank top into a pile of stuff to give away. When I finally got back, they were calmly listening to Ary tell the next part of the story.

"- and he demands to know if she's defective, and she just lost control of her shit. I'm telling ya, she got up, on a sprained ankle, and told him to sod off in front of his entire family. He turned bright red, and she just left. Mrs. P demanded to know what had happened, but James was just having a shufti to see if she was still there or not…" she trailed off as she saw me in the doorway of my closet. She smiled at my shirt, which was short sleeved and said "Catch me if you can" with the picture of a snitch on it. I knew she would like it.

"Well, what happened?" I demanded.

Ary looked kind of guilty. "His mom, grandmum, and my mum let him have it. It didn't help that Lily told them how you met."

I turned red and moaned as I collapsed onto my bed. "I didn't think they'd get mad at him. I thought they'd get mad at me."

Ary shrugged. "Nah. They all really liked you, love. 'Specially Mr. P, after you launched yourself off your broom like that. Said Professor McGonagall would've loved to see that, and that he'd write her about it next letter. But don't worry about it. He's always getting into trouble for shit these days. It's a phase, apparently, according to Mum."

I just shook my head and turned to face Jane, Georgie, and Carly. "Well?"

Jane beamed at me, and Georgie was hugging her tightly. Carly just looked up at me and asked, "Where on Earth have you been hiding those gorgeous gams, Lin?"

Soon enough the party was in full swing, the walls were lined with tables of food, and there was a gigantic clock ticking down the time until midnight. I had requested a DJ turntable, which I was now working. I had learned to do it for a bonfire a couple of years ago. I was now teaching Carly who was enthusiastic about every piece of electronics she could get her hands on. I wasn't sure if I was happy about that yet.

I was finally confident she wouldn't blow us up, so I left to get some drinks. There was plenty of butterbeer, but I knew someone, probably Jack Gowan, had snuck in firewhiskey. I was trying to get rid of it before my parents found it. After all, they were only just upstairs with other parents they had invited, along with the smaller children. I thought I saw Jack's blond head and was about to pounce when I was pulled into a hug.

"LINNY!" I winced as the screech hit my ears.

I turned and saw Mary Moriarty. She had been my partner in Potions for a week. She was a Hufflepuff, and I adored her. "MARY!"

She grinned when she saw my shirt. "LOVE IT!" she exclaimed. Mary was the seeker for Hufflepuff. "Tell me where you got it!"

"Give me your size and I'll get it for you!" I said as she scribbled down her measurements. I had gotten it in the states, but it was easy enough to owl order it. "Are you having fun?"

She nodded. "Yeah, loads." She giggled. "You going to get a midnight kiss, Lin?"

I laughed. "Doubt it." I nudged her. "You?"

She shrugged, and then winked. "You seen Georgie's brother anywhere?"

I fought to contain the laughter. Robert, a seventh year chaser for Ravenclaw, was actually frightened of Mary, as Georgie had told me before. Eh, I thought to myself, this'll be fun. "Yeah! He's over there talking to Fletcher and some of the other guys on the team! Have fun!" I added as she took off.

I walked around the room a couple of times, exchanged pleasantries with classmates, and then headed towards the DJ table. "CARLY!" I bellowed. She couldn't hear me otherwise.

"WHAT?" she screamed.

"NEED ME TO TAKE OVER?" I gestured to myself.

She shook her head and gave me a thumbs up before she switched the song to the Weird Sisters's new album.

I smiled at her enthusiasm before I looked around the room again. I had a good vantage point from up here. I saw Hugo trying to teach Rose how to dance, and Lily dancing with a boy I recognized as Scorpius Malfoy, a fifth year Slytherin. I bit my tongue, literally, and knew that Albus knew they were secretly seeing each other, but they still didn't want the rest of their family to know yet. Apparently there had been some bad blood.

I shook my head as I remembered that fact, and thought they should be more discreet. Although, she had been seeing him secretly for months already, and I had only found out when she told me. As it was, they weren't grinding like the majority of people; it looked like they were waltzing from where I was. I shrugged. She could've done worse, and as long as Albus was okay with it, I would be, too.

I had resolved to put it in the back of my mind for the rest of the night, deciding to talk to Lily later. I looked over to the left of them and saw Ary and Eddie making out blatantly. I was going to march over to them when Jane appeared out of nowhere and stopped me. "I'll take care of it. Just thought you should know, James is here, looking for you, again." She pointed to one of the further walls.

I didn't even bother to check if he was there, I just ducked immediately. "I thought you were going to hex him!" I whined.

She frowned at me. "I doubt your parents would appreciate it if I did it in their house, with his parents, and mine upstairs. Plus, I might hit one of our friends." She looked up again, and into the crowd. "Better hide, Lin, he's getting closer."

I took her advice and crept back against the wall. I did not want to ruin tonight, or embarrass my parents. Jane was right. This was not the greatest place to get into it with him. I looked up and saw a partial window. Thanking God for my limber body. I threw open the window and managed to crawl outside into the cold air.

I sat with my back against the gate to our garden, and was glad of two things: One, that charms had been placed on the cellar, to make it sound-proof and muggle-proof, so it was silent; and two, that I had escaped without any embarrassment. I did wish that I had brought a jacket and a butterbeer, or, as I looked down at the watch on my wrist, a firewhiskey. It was 11:30 already.

I adjusted myself so I was lying back on the grass looking up at the moon. What was I, eight hours before my friends in the States? I sighed. I missed them. I knew this summer my parents were going to 'surprise' me with a trip to Newport Beach, and I was glad. At the same time, England had been mostly good so far. I grinned. I had even met the famous Harry Potter. And he had liked me. And although Ary told me that wasn't a unique thing, I was still proud.

"Mind if I join you?"

I was startled and sat up. But, when I saw who it was, I just breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, sure, Louis."

He smiled and handed me a bottle of butterbeer. "I thought you looked lonely out here."

I laughed. "And here I thought I was being sneaky in escaping." I took a swig of drink.

He chuckled with me. "I'm just extremely observant. One of the things about being a Ravenclaw, you know."

I shook my head and took another drink of butterbeer. All of a sudden, I felt somber. "You know, I think the Sorting Hat considered putting me in Ravenclaw for a moment."

He contemplated this, his mood also shifting. "You would have done well," he decided quietly. "I've seen your spell work, and you're talented."

I shrugged. "I don't know why it decided Gryffindor."

He took a sip of his own drink. "I think we all doubt its choices at times." He studied the moon for a moment. "Uncle Harry did."

I looked at him, surprised. "But, your uncle saved our world. He, he tried to die for it, and almost did. He's the bravest person, and probably the most deserving person of the Gryffindor title."

Louis still examined the moon. "He said the hat wanted him in Slytherin. He said he knows why, now, but for years he wondered if he would've been better off in Slytherin." His gaze dropped down to mine. "I think our houses play into our destiny. You're in Gryffindor for a reason. Just trust that."

I nodded and took another sip of my drink. I then looked up at the sky again. "Oh my gosh. Is that snow?"

Louis looked up and laughed. "Yes."

I scrambled up and twirled around in it, somber mood forgotten. "I've never seen snow before."

He smiled. "The first time is the best, I think, because you'll soon hate it."

I laughed. "Probably."

He checked his watch. "It's 11:55. We should get back inside."

I looked at the still falling snow. "You go ahead. Give me a minute."

He nodded and smiled before he slipped through the window. I exhaled and realized I could see my breath. I blew through my fingers and giggled. I was freezing, but I still felt warm inside. Probably because of the butterbeer, I decided. I took another swig, and twirled once more.

And stopped, when I realized I was being watched. "What do you want, James?"

He looked sad. "I wanted to apologize."

"Again?" I sighed. "Not tonight, James. Not when you're probably drunk off of the firewhiskey Gowan brought in."

He scrubbed his hair with his hand, blushing, and I knew I was right. "Still want to apologize," he muttered with a slur.

I shook my head. Something about being outside in the snow was magical, and not the ordinary magic I used every day. It made me calm. "No. I won't accept it. You apologized once and then went back to what you were doing! I don't understand why you want to apologize so much, anyways. I'm just a Yankee, and you hate me, remember?" I smiled, but there was no humor in it. "Hope you had fun at the party, James."

I tried to slip past him, but he grabbed onto my arms. He looked pained. "You… you can't tell? Why I want to apologize?" He smelled like firewhiskey.

I heard in the background people starting to count down. "No, I can't. And I need to be down there to watch the clock right now, so I don't really care, either."

He just gripped me tighter. "I… don't know how to say it," he mumbled, the slur slipping into his voice again.

I was growing impatient. "Spit it out or let me go!"

Some fire returned to his eyes. "Fine," he spat. And then he blew my mind.

He kissed me.

I almost fainted. I was so shocked. I couldn't move.

And so, when he let go of my arms, I fell down. I looked up at him dazedly. "You kissed me."

He looked sad. "I know," he said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"You kissed me," I whispered, and pressed my fingers to my lips, which still felt unusually warm. "Why?"

"You know, for someone who's supposed to be exceedingly bright, you're pretty stupid!" he yelled, now looking angry more than anything else.

I was so shocked I couldn't think of anything to say. So I just stood up, brushed my backside off, started to cry, and ran inside. I could hear voices calling me, but I ignored them as I ran upstairs, tears running down my face. I shut and locked the door to my room, and then shut and locked myself in the bathroom. I curled up into the tub.

And that was how Jane found me, an hour later, after everyone had gone home. Still technically underage, she unlocked my doors magically and started crying when she saw me in the tub. She crawled in with me. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Albus told me what happened. I don't know why he can't leave you alone."

I sobbed against her tiny frame. "I don't want to go back to Hogwarts and see him again."

Jane just stroked my hair and murmured a half forgotten lullaby into my hair. I fell asleep like that.

When I woke up, I was in my bed. I scrubbed at my face. The makeup had started smeared and stuck. I stumbled to my bathroom and washed my face, and then examined my face in the mirror. My hair was sticking up in several different directions, my eyes were puffy and I still had my clothes on from yesterday.

I then surveyed my room. Georgie and Carly were sleeping back to back, with Jane sprawled out over them. Ary, on the other hand, was taking up as much room as possible on the floor, and snoring like a bear.

I smiled. I really did love my friends.