A/N: This is my first fanfiction in years so don't expect the best of things haha! I've chosen to not go with any well-known characters as I don't feel comfortable enough portray them accurately at this point. I have instead chosen to explore where Penelope Clearwater ended up, and the life of her children, specifically her youngest daughter's journey to find happiness within herself, as well as with someone else, at Hogwarts. Please leave a review or a comment if you have time, any feedback is really appreciated! Now, enough talking from me, hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1
Olivia woke up startled by the aggressive knocking on her door. She could feel her pyjamas clinging to her skin from the nightmare she'd just had.
"Olivia, breakfast!" Her brother Will shouted. Olivia drowsily sat up and rubbed her eyes. Today was the day she was going back for her fifth year at Hogwarts. She wasn't sure if the knot in her stomach was due the stress of facing O.W.L's, or that Will and his twin, Tom, were starting sixth year, meaning they will bother her even more now that they had both achieved top marks in their O.W.L's. After putting her robes on and putting some makeup on, she took a deep breath and walked downstairs to the kitchen.
"Someone's tried to make themselves look pretty for the Hogwarts boys" said Olivia's older sister Hannah who was smirking, "Tried". Olivia ignored her and their mother nudged Hannah, staring at her annoyed.
"She's just stating the truth, mum. She's got a crush on that Slytherin boy Adyn" said Tom condescendingly. Olivia blushed. She had had a crush on Adyn since when they had Potions classes together last year. He had helped her produce a Confusing Concoction, a potion they were supposed to be able to produce in third year, however, she still struggled with it. Adyn was a tall boy with dark hair, friendly and outgoing, and very popular amongst both girls and boys. He had a reputation of dating whoever he fancies at the time and dumping them whenever he finds someone better. Olivia knew he wasn't the ideal boyfriend, but she couldn't help herself dreamily thinking about him for a few moments.
In the meantime, her brothers and sister had started arguing about who was the smartest out of them. They made a comment about how Olivia doesn't even compare against them when they were in first year of Hogwarts but she ignored them and started eating her morning roll instead. She had learnt from many years of snarky comments that it was better to stay quiet instead of giving them even more to make fun of. Her parents only half-heartedly tried to defend her these days; a part of Olivia thought they likely agreed with them. All of Olivia's family had been in Ravenclaw except for herself who was in Hufflepuff. She didn't mind this as she preferred the values of Hufflepuff to Ravenclaw's, however, everyone else in her family thought she was only in Hufflepuff because according to them, she wasn't smart enough for Ravenclaw.
After breakfast, they packed up the last few things and put the suitcases in the trunk of the car that was undoubtedly expanded by an expansion spell. On the way out of the house, Olivia had one last look at herself in the mirror. She had changed her hair since last year and felt a lot more confident. Her siblings had been making fun of her all summer for getting a fringe and dying her hair dark brown, but she felt a lot more like herself in it. Her mascara had smudged under her eyes a bit and she tried to remove it as good as she could and smiled. She thought to herself: I only need to pass my exams. Then I can pick N.E.W.T subjects I'm actually good at and they will never make fun of me again.
Little did she know this was going to be a lot harder than she expected.