"Lin! Lin, you really have to wake up now. We're only 10 minutes away from Hogwarts!"

I groaned and snuggled deeper into my pillow. My eyes stayed closed as I pouted like a petulant child. "No."

My pillow laughed, and I quickly sat upright with a squeak. James Potter eyed me with a grin. "If I had known my laughter would wake you up, I would've laughed sooner."

Jane rolled her eyes as she stood in the doorway of our compartment. "Oh really? You begged me to let her sleep some more. Enjoying being used as a pillow, Potter?"

James and I both blushed. "How long was I out?" I rose from my seat, swaying a little. "And where's everybody else?"

"You've been asleep for about an hour and a half." She grinned at me. "And you look it." I blushed again and combed through my hair. "As for the others, they're all getting changed into their robes. You should probably do the same, Lin."

I pushed my hair into a ponytail. "Any better?"

She nodded. "See you on the platform!"

I sighed and reached over James's head to get my robes out of my trunk. As I rummaged around, my shirt slid up, exposing my belly button. He took this opportunity to kiss the exposed skin. I shrieked again. "James!"

He chuckled and grabbed a hold of my waist. "Yes, Linny?"

"I'm trying to be productive, and you're distracting me." I frowned at him, and took in his appearance. His hair was sticking up in several different directions, like usual, and he was wearing jeans that hung low on his hips, as well as a sweater that was snug around his torso. A wave of desire hit me, but I pushed it down. "Shouldn't you be getting dressed, too?"

He massaged my lower back. "In a minute. Can't I kiss my beautiful girlfriend?"

I blushed, and determinedly fixed my eyes on my trunk as I felt around for my robes. "That's all you have been doing, James. I'm waiting for you to get tired of it."

He tugged me down forcefully. "Never," he declared as I landed in his lap, "will I ever get tired of kissing you. You're better each time, if anything."

I scowled at him. "You're ridiculous."

He smiled and kissed me soundly. "You're infuriating."

"James Potter! We have to get ready." I was having a hard time keeping a straight face. "Besides, we haven't even been on a real date yet."

He placed butterfly kisses on my cheek. "Mmm, doesn't the party count?"

"No." I tried to push him away. He just held me closer. I growled, "James-"

He kissed me again and effectively shut me up. My eyes fluttered shut as his lips moved against mine slowly. I traced his upper lip with my tongue, and he sharply inhaled, pulling back. "Come on, Lin. We're late." He dumped me on the floor of the compartment with a grin.

I sat dazed for a moment, but quickly recovered and stood up. "James Potter, you are a prick!"

He handed me my robes. "So you've said," he murmured, taking in my disheveled appearance with a sly smile. He grabbed his robes and stepped out of the compartment. "I suggest changing in here, Lin. Otherwise people will think you've just been shagged."

I lunged for him but he quickly shut the door in my face. I scowled at him through the glass and tapped my wand to the window, pulling the shades over his smirking face, but took his advice as I quickly changed into my school uniform.

When that was finished, I fussed with my hair and thought about the week James and I had been dating. If you can really call it that, I thought to myself depressingly.

After our first kiss, he and his family had had to go. I had woken up early the next morning believing it to have been a dream. As I had been debating on waking Jane, Carly, Ary, and George, who had slept on my bedroom floor, a tawny owl with a letter attached to his leg landed on my window sill. I let him in, and quickly opened the scroll of parchment.

Lin,

I don't know about you, but I can't sleep. Which is strange, because I am more than slightly buzzed, and should be asleep. I think it's because I'm too excited. You don't know how long I've wanted to kiss you. And it would be really fantastic if you would let me do it again.

Really, really fantastic.

What I think my sleep-deprived brain is trying to say is that I want you to be my girlfriend. Would you?

Yours,

James

My reply had been short.

You idiot.

Of course.

Linny

We hadn't been able to see each other much, though, since I had wanted to study and James had… not. But now we were arriving at Hogwarts, so seeing him wouldn't be a problem, though not seeing him might be. I was sure we were going to be joined at the hip, and was afraid of us getting sick of each other.

The train screeched to a stop as I slid the door open slowly. James was leaning against the wall across the way, talking to Reggie, but grinned when he saw me. Reggie rolled his eyes as he punched James in the shoulder.

"Tell me it's not true," Reggie pretended to plead with me. "Tell me our love will remain strong!"

I looked at him with a straight face and hugged him. "It's true, I'm afraid, but we'll always have October!"

Reggie waved his arms in the air dramatically. "I can't go on!" he wailed as he ran off the train.

I laughed as James scowled, wrapping an arm around my waist possessively. "Cheeky bugger."

"James." I rolled my eyes. "You know he's gay."

He relaxed slightly. "I know, but still. You're mine."

I punched him in the side. "I am not a piece of property."

"Oh, but I am?" He grinned at me as I blushed.

"I did yell that rather loudly, didn't I?" I murmured as we joined the line to get a horseless carriage.

Jane, Marcus, Jack, and Carly joined us at that moment. "Yelled what?" Jane asked from her perch on top of Marcus's back.

I frowned and avoided the question. "You're taller than me."

Marcus shifted Jane's weight. "How long is this going to go on, Jane?"

Jane giggled as she clasped her arms around Marcus's neck. "I haven't had a piggy back for years, Mark. Let me have a little fun." She looked at James. "Now, what did Lin yell?"

I blushed furiously. James grinned. "You were there, remember?"

Comprehension dawned on everyone's faces, and then they all burst into laughter. I hid my face in James's side, even though he was chuckling, too.

This continued for several moments. Marcus sobered first, probably because Jane had fallen off of his back because she was laughing so hard. He held a hand out to help her out, but she just curled up and continued giggling.

I smacked my forehead. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

Jane sat up quickly. "Not that big of a deal? Lin! You were drunk and climbed onto James's back shouting 'MINE!' over and over again when Felicity tried to talk to him!" Jane burst into more laughter. "We only got you down after Albus threatened to kidnap James."

I scowled. "I wouldn't have done it if she hadn't kept trying to lure him away so she could seduce him."

"You looked like a monkey," Carly gasped.

James stroked my hair and tightened his arm around my waist, preventing me from strangling her. "Come on, you lot. There's a carriage."

One by one they calmed down, and started talking loudly about the new semester. I was still scowling at them.

"Lin," James whispered into my ear. I shivered and looked up at him. He smiled. "I don't mind being yours."

I laid my head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. "I don't mind being yours, either," I confessed quietly. It was a hard thing for me to admit. I had never let any of my other boyfriends claim me like that. I was a person, not a sweater. I didn't care about it with James, though, and realizing it made me scared.

That fear was pushed aside when he locked eyes with me. It was as if he knew my thoughts, because his eyes were now dark with passion. I felt an unfamiliar quiver in my stomach and gulped.

"OI!" Carly bumped our heads together. "Not in front of us!"

I rubbed the spot on my forehead grumpily. James huffed. "We weren't doing anything!"

"You were about to," she shot back with a small smirk.

I scowled in response. This was going to be a long semester.