Anything you recognise belongs to JKR.

'Liv, please. Just stay here?'

'Fred, I'm going to fight, you can't stop me. I'm 20 years old.'

'I've got a bad feeling about it.'

'We're about to go to war against You-Know-Who, what do you expect?' she joked. Fred's face didn't change. 'Look. I'm going to be right next to you the whole time! And if something happens... Well, we'll be together.'

Olivia Flume yawned, intensely bored. The train ride to Hogwarts was always the same. She had bid farewell to her parents at Honeydukes rather than letting them walk her to the train station that sat at the foot of the village. Of course, although there was no denying that living in Hogsmeade had it's advantages, she couldn't help but feel jealous of those who got to ride from platform 9 and three quarters with the rest of the school.

Apart from her, there were around ten other students who lived in Hogsmeade, none of whom she knew. The majority were not in her house, and the single student who was in Gryffindor was a nervous looking second year who refused to look anyone in the eye. This was not the dramatic start to her fifth year she had dreamed of when she was in second year. By now, she should have had grand adventures planned of romance and excitement. She should not, in fact have been watching a Hufflepuff girl two seats away from her pick her nose. Olivia's mind wandered to the Hogwarts express, each carriage packed full with students. Katie Bell was probably discussing the latest break up tale with Angelina and Alicia, which Olivia would inevitably have to listen to at some point. It wasn't that Katie had had lots of boyfriends, it was that the boys that she would date shared a single trait - nastiness.

Olivia knew that Katie, with her soft skin, curly hair and nervous smile was always going to be someone who attracted assholes. Hot, asshole teenage boys like cute girls who have the girl-next-door quality to them. It allows them to do whatever they want while relying on the girl's naivety to stop them getting dumped, she thought. It wasn't that Katie wasn't smart, because she was. Olivia frequently copied almost everything she did in her classes, which meant that she didn't really learn much until her best friend would inevitably force her to study for a test. In return, Olivia hexed Katie's boyfriends when they inevitably made her cry. They had a good system. It worked.

However, Olivia was never alone in hexing Katie's boyfriends. She always had help. Olivia pulled out a grubby letter from her skirt pocket and the corners of her mouth lifted.

'Wake up, Liv, Errol's here!

So, as arranged, bring as much overstock from the shop as possible. The sweets on the train are so overpriced. If I am ever rude to you, please remind me that you live in Honeydukes. I don't usually forget but it does sometimes slip my mind.'

The two different styles of handwriting were one of the few ways you could differentiate between Fred and George Weasley.

'What Fred means is 'I am so glad to have you as a friend. Never will I base our friendship solely on my stomach. Or any other part of my body.' Piss off, George.

See you

Fred

George.'

She tucked the letter back into her pocket, already feeling less sorry for herself. Hogwarts was never dull, particularly not when her friends were Fred and George Weasley. Two years ago, when second year Katie first had her heart broken by a Slytherin boy ('I told you they were all rats!'), Olivia had vowed revenge. However, she had never been particularly good at finding ways to get back at someone without making it extremely obvious it was her. After receiving a detention for attempting to duel the Slytherin, she found herself polishing trophies with the two Weasleys. It didn't take long before she had explained the situation to them and they had agreed to help. Now, two years and several of Katie's boyfriends later, she was inseparable from the pair.

With a screech, the train rapidly lost speed, and the blonde was wrenched out of her thoughts by the arrival at Hogwarts. She followed the other students off of the train, wondering how long it would be until the Hogwarts express arrived at the platform. Olivia didn't have to wait long however before the scarlet steam engine pulled up at the platform and students began to spill out of it. Hagrid, the groundskeeper flashed her a smile as he passed, directing first years to the boats. 'Firs' years, this way! Firs' years!' Olivia craned her neck to see past the flow of students, and her eyes caught two redheads bobbing along in the students. Their two faces split into a grin, and Fred and George Weasley raced their way towards her, shoving past a group of disgruntled fifth year girls.

'Liv!' yelled George, lifting up the far shorter girl into a bear hug. Fred arrived seconds later, scrubbing her head madly with his fist. 'Ow, ow, get off, get off!' Olivia laughed, pushing the stocky Fred away from her. 'Right, carriage, now, I've not seen you both in about a hundred years.'

'Guess we're just too lazy to come see you,' added George, smiling good-naturedly. Olivia climbed into the carriages awaiting them, catching her tights on the side and immediately causing a ladder to leap up her shin. 'Oh, for god's sake.' She sat down with a thump and began investigating the damage to her leg as the twins clambered into the carriage with her. George took out his wand, and turned to face his twin. 'What do we think, close enough to Hogwarts to not risk a letter from the ministry and therefore a howler from Mum?'

'Most definitely,' answered Fred, and Olivia concurred.

'Reparo,' said George, his wand pointed at Olivia's leg. The ladder quickly rethreaded itself and Olivia beamed. 'Thanks.'

'Don't mention it,' George answered, tucking his wand into his sleeve. The carriage juddered as it began to move forward and the three quickly began to catch up on the holidays.

'So Ginny is basically fine now?' asked Olivia.

'Completely,' said Fred, while George nodded. 'Mum's been fawning over her all summer, though to be honest I don't know if it's done more harm than good. My approach was to carry on as normal but Percy seemed to think she's too delicate to handle anything, which is bullshit.'

'Ginny can be terrifying sometimes, I'm surprised You-Know-Who didn't think it over before all the diary stuff,' pondered George.

'But it's better she's with us than someone like Percy who's that straight laced. I can hardly believe I'm related to him,' said Fred musingly. 'Do you remember when we tried to make Mum take that test to prove he was our brother, George?'

'You asked your Mum to check that she hadn't got someone else's son?' Olivia spluttered.

'Looking back, it was probably a poor move,' said George. He stretched out his legs in the carriage, gazing up at Hogwarts. 'It feels good to be back.' The three looked up at the silhouette of the castle, clouds darkening around it, heavy with rain. It wasn't a particularly horrible night, thought Olivia, despite the threat of rain which would undoubtably unnerve the first years who were travelling across on the boats. She copied George, stretching out over the carriages seats. Yes, it was good to be back. Whilst Olivia was gazing across at the scenery, Fred and George exchanged a look. No dementors had searched her train, and neither of them wanted to broach the subject.

As the carriages drew to a halt, Fred looked around, scanning the carriages. 'Can you see Ron and Ginny?' he muttered to George. The latter quickly glanced up and down the carriages and shook his head. 'What?' asked Olivia, as she jumped out, splashing mud over her shoes. 'Nothing!' said the twins synchronised in words and innocence. Olivia spun around and stared at them. 'You're using your voice you use for McGonnagal. Are you going to tell me what's wrong?'

Fred gave a sideways glance to his brother, who gave a slight twitch of his head.

'Well…'

'You know about Azkaban, right?' asked Fred cautiously.

'I live in a village, not with Muggles.'

'Sorry. Well, there was a dementor on the train.'

'What?' said Olivia sharply. 'What for?' The twins said nothing, starting to walk along the path to Hogwarts with the rest of the students. 'Come on, you can't leave me in the dark like this! Katie will tell me anyway, all you're doing is delaying it!'

'Okay, they think that Sirius Black the serial killer is on the loose and might go to Hogwarts and we didn't want to say anything because not only is that pretty damn scary but dementors are too. Plus they make my skin crawl,' said George with a shudder. Olivia was following them now, walking slowly, ignoring the hungry and impatient students elbowing her out of the way. 'Liv? You okay?'

'Yeah,' she said, shaking her head. Fred put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. 'Look, I know it's creepy but I mean, what's the chances that Sirius Black is going to come here. Even smaller are the chances that he's going to think a tiny blonde girl is going to be a worthwhile enemy. No offence, but I imagine you're not exactly high on his hit list.'

'Who is though, do you reckon?' said George. 'Dumbledore?'

'Dumbledore is one of the best wizards in the world, even Black wouldn't be stupid enough to duel him,' said Fred.

'He is insane though,' said Olivia quietly.

As the three sat down before the feast, Olivia noticed George twisting a thread on his robes, a slightly determined look on his face. She raised her eyebrow at him, and he stared at her defiantly. 'If your eyebrow goes up any further it'll be dancing around the great hall.'

'Why are you worried?' she asked. Fred's head whipped around from chatting to Angelina.

'George? Worried?' He shook his head sadly. 'You're ruining our reputation, twin.'

'I'm not worried!' George said slightly too loudly. Olivia and Fred gave him a look. 'Okay. I am a bit. I just… Ginny will turn up, won't she?'

'Course she will,' Fred said nonchalantly, pointing his wand at a goblet before peering into it. Whatever he had been hoping might happen however had failed, and he knocked it away with a grunt. 'It's Gin, George. It's a miracle Ron's sitting at the table, it's practically a cert that Ginny will,' he added.

Olivia, however was looking up and down Gryffindor table. 'Has anyone seen Harry and Hermione though? Isn't it weird that Ron's just sitting on his own?'

'Aw, worried about ickle Ron?' said George.

'Yeah, if you want to go sit with him we won't mind, honest,' said Fred, smirking

'Oh shut up, I'm better than you two at looking out for him,' she said huffily. Olivia turned towards the sorting hat on it's stool, suddenly realising how empty her stomach felt, and hoped it would get on with it soon.

As the twins and Olivia trudged up the stairs to the common room, their stomachs swelling from the feast, they were joined by Lee Jordan who looked unusually grim. 'Guys, guys, you're never going to believe it,' he said, throwing his arms around the twins' shoulders. 'What?' asked Olivia, though with little interest. Usually it was something Quidditch related that Lee would tell the twins about, and although she liked Quidditch, she was not only a terrible flier but had little interest in long conversations about tactics and flying formations. 'So a dementor went into Harry Potter's carriage today.'

'It did?' said the twins immediately, their heads snapping up.

'Yeah. Apparently he had some sort of seizure. Everyone's been talking about it.'

'Merlin,' said Olivia, her full stomach now making her feel queasy. 'I hope I never see one.'

'You won't,' said Fred instantly. 'Dumbledore won't let them in the castle, right Lee?'

'No way. He's a bit daft but the way he was talking about them in his speech… I just can't see him ever letting them in.' The happy mood that the feast had given them was fast fading and by the time they reached the common room, all that Olivia wanted to do was disappear to her room and go to bed.

As she opened the door, she heard sniffling coming from behind a curtain on a four poster bed. It was only nine o'clock but she felt drained, and Katie's fake snores were a clear signal that she didn't want to talk. Olivia collapsed onto her own bed and stared at the ceiling. Hogwarts was safe, it was protected. So why did it feel like there was something pressing on the castle walls outside, some sense of foreboding that Olivia couldn't ignore?

A/N Hi! Hope you enjoyed. Please review as I am fairly out of practise and constructive criticism is always appreciated...