Don't Mess With the Smart Girls

James stumbled up to the bench in the Great Hall and began shoveling eggs into his mouth. He was most definitely not a morning person. When he could stand to have his eyes open for more than a few seconds at the time, he looked around for Cat, that having become almost as much a part of his breakfast routine as orange juice and Nearly Headless Nick. The girl was like quicksilver. He hadn't even spoken to her, other than a whispered jibe or insult in one of their few shared classes (she was also-annoyingly-very, very smart and taking advanced classes with the older students) since that day on the train almost 2 weeks ago. He spotted her curly black hair and twinkling blue eys before he heard her laugh ring out through the Hall. She was sitting-as usual- with his cousin Rose and 6 or 7 other kids from Ravenclaw. As he watched her toss her curls and laugh again at something some tall blonde guy sitting next to her said, he shook his head in disgust. So much for his brilliant plan of seduction and rejection. Dragon dung, what was it about her that made him so crazy? Of course she was gorgeous-in that fresh Irish rose sort of way- but it wasn't just that. She was lively and witty and fun. More than once James had to stop himself from laughing out loud when she made a particularly clever retort to one of his muttered jabs. She was... different. Every other girl at Hogwarts seemed to have so much drama and baggage. They got caught up in petty little fights and were so transparent in their greeds and jealousies it was boring. But Cat never seemed to lower herself to that. She liked everyone and almost everyone liked her back. James NEEDED to do something about this weird itch he had for her, needed to get her out of his system. No more of this skulking around, he decided. He'd be his charming self next Herbology class they shared, ask her to the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, lead her on for a few weeks, make her really fall for him, then promptly drop her before he started falling for her back