Best of Friends

Chapter One "One afternoon by the pool"

Fifteen year old Ophelia Elena Robinson known to everyone as Lainie (lane – ee) was asleep. Well she was pretending to be. She was laying on her sun lounger at her best friends James Potter's house. She had just had a very exhausting tennis game against him. They had slaved at it till it was seven all in the third set then they had called it a draw (which was rare since they both as competitive as the other). Now after a swim she was resting in the baking sun. Suddenly a bucket of water was poured over her. As her eyes snapped open she saw a pair of hazel eyes above her.

"I'll kill you James Potter" she screamed .

The parents, enjoying lunch on the verandah of James's large wooden country house, under the grape vines barely looked up. This was a common occurrence. They smiled fondly and went back to their conversation. Lainie jumped up and chased James round the pool till she jumped the fence and pursued him out to the orchard garden. Finally they flopped exhausted under the large apple tree. James with a mischievous smile on his face.

"So, are we going to go to Alex Lloyds party tonight "

"Yeah, I thought we might" "I'll come over their bout 8, ok"

"Yeah, cool"

Later that night Lainie was brushing her long slightly wavy black hair. She had black hair which hung in a shiny curtain over her back, light blue eyes and had a figure like a "bean pole" as she called it. She lacked in boobs and hips but had muscly arms and legs from her relentless quidditch playing and tennis playing. She blamed her lack of shape on her father for encouraging her to do competive swimming when she was younger. She slipped into a shortish denim skirt and a white tank top. She pulled her hair back into a high pony tail and contemplated putting on some mascara. She never wore make up but maybe tonight.......nah she looked fine without it. Actually she looked better than fine to most people but she was quite happily unaware of that. Suddenly James appeared in her room slamming the door behind him.

"Hey, have you no respect for privacy"

"No, none at all. Looking nice tonight, Lainie"

"Thanks, your not so bad yourself, pity Lily doesn't think so"

"Hasn't she come around to my charms yet?" "Doesn't seem to have yet, still thinks you're arrogant but that thing with Snape by the lake was pretty big headed"

"Sorr – ree, I was just giving Snivellus his come uppance"

"Anyway we better get going. Are my parents still at your house, were they ok with me going?"

"Yea, I had to assure them that I would look after you."

"It's going to be the other way round I bet"

"Real funny"

"Let's go"

"Right"

They walked round to Alex's place where they knocked on the door.

"Hey, come in" said Alex with an unusually large smile. James slipped his arm round her waist in a gesture which most thought would be too affectionate but since they were a combination of brother and sister and best friends it wasn't unusual. They would still sleep in the same bed and had done so for many years except when they first started Hogwarts and realized that boys didn't sleep in the same bed as boys but they soon realized that that was stupid and went back to sharing a bed when they slept over.

Alex offered them a drink and he and Lainie were soon chatting. Alex thought she was pretty hot and secretly had a crush on her. He was slightly intimidated by James though who had an uncanny knack of walking in when he was about to ask her out. Alex was a Ravenclaw seventh year and was the pin up chaser of their quidditch team. James however, had gone off to join some fellow guys who were chatting up some girls. Hey if Lilly wasn't going to appreciate him (yet) maybe he would find some one who would till she noticed.

Lainie had soon spotted some friends from Gryffindor one of which was one of her two best friends, Olivia Barnett. Along with her other best friend Lily Evans, the made up their little group of friends, some times nicknamed the three "L's" Lilly, Livvy and Lainie. Lilly was considered the stunning one with curly auburn hair, emerald eyes and perfect creamy skin... She was small and curvy with a figure that made most people jealous. Livvy had straight honey blond hair and light green eyes with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose. Her skin seemed to always be tanned and glowing. She was average height and with a slim build from ballet till she was eleven. Lainie was the tall, thin one with the shiny black hair and blue eyes. She was the tallest by a long shot and was muscled from years of sport. They were easily the prettiest girls in school but they pretended not to know it. She grabbed Livvy and dragged her off to talk.

"Liv! how did you get here, you live ages away and we go back to school in 4 days."

"I was hoping I could stay with you, I told my parents you'd be fine with it. They sent my stuff straight to your house after they talked with your parents."

"Cool, hey, cool top, did you get it France," said Lainie indicating to Livvy's pink lacey singlet top teamed with a little mint green mini skirt. Livvy always looked amazing, as her coloring went with any color and she took advantage of it.

"Yeah, France was great. Come on. Let's dance. There are some hot guys to get" Lainie rolled her eyes but allowed herself to be led onto the dance floor.

When they reached the dancing area, a song started playing and Livvy grabbed Lainie and forced her to dance. Little did they know that they were attracting most of the looks from the guys. They were just having fun and dancing though they were slightly flirting. Then the song changed to a slow one" and Livvy was quickly snatched up by a Hufflepuff guy. Alex grabbed Lainie and asked her to dance, pulling her in to him and placing his arms around her waist. They slowly began to sway.

"Hey, do you want to go for a walk" asked Alex after they had been dancing for a while.

"Ummmm, sure" she said when she realized no-one was going to rescue her

He took her hand and led her out into the garden and to the fountain. The moon was up and it was magical. She snuck a glance at Alex and found that he was looking straight at her. He locked his eyes into her and he started getting closer. Their lips met and he pulled her closer to him. He slowly slid his tongue in between her lips and she let him explore her mouth. It seemed like the right thing to do. It wasn't that nice but he seemed to be enjoying it so she let him continue. After a while which seemed like forever to her, she pulled back.

"Maybe we should go back to the party" she suggested tentatively.

"Yeah" he agreed.