I can't tell you guys how happy I am with the success of this story already! My biggest fear about writing this was people thinking I was a Lily-basher, which is not true, I love her, curiosity really created this story ;) I'm really excited about this story because I have big, big plans!

~Molly xoxoxo

. . . . . . . .

Honestly, Olivia nearly peed her pants when she found out who her tutor was. James freaking Potter. The only reason she was even failing Transfiguration is because her brain hadn't been focused since third year the year before. She was too busy grieving about her dad's death.

Her dad was her only friend growing up because they lived in a muggle neighborhood. Olivia wasn't a muggleborn though, she was a half-blood, her mum was a witch. A witch who left them when Olivia was two months old. Her Dad tried his best to understand her magic, and actually did pretty well. Her stepsisters and stepmother didn't though.

Her dad married Eloise Parley when Olivia was five. She was sweet for three years until her something changed. Then she and her twin daughters, Bella and Sami started abusing Olivia for the hell of it. And her dad never found out because Bella, Sami, and Eloise would tell him that some neighborhood boys beat her up and not them. It was sick. The only place that she could safe at was Hogwarts. But she didn't have any friends at Hogwarts either. She was too isolated, had been too quiet for so long that she was unapproachable.

At home, it was 'sit down' and 'shut up'. Olivia didn't know how to be a normal kid anymore, and she wore big clothes to hide her bruises, scratches, and other injuries. One time, Eloise threw a beer bottle at her head, and she ducked, but a piece of glass scraped under her eye. She had a scar so faded, you could barely see it, but it was still there.

Her family loved to pick at the fact that she was magical. 'Freak' or 'mutant' were the most common. The only person who loved her was dead. She accepted that. She'd learned to live with herself as she was.

Before she left for platform 9 ¾, she had received her latest injury of a black eye that she covered with makeup.

She got it the night before when she was finishing up packing for Hogwarts. She thought maybe she could trick Eloise into finally signing her paper so she could go to Hogsmeade that year. It didn't go so well.

Olivia had covered up the paper with one of her textbooks when she went to talk to Eloise.

"Eloise?" She had asked timidly. The woman had grunted in response as she smoked her cigarette and blew the smoke in Olivia's face, her tacky red lips pursed into an 'o'. Olivia had to force herself not to recoil in disgust. "I was wondering if you could sign this for school."

"Is eht for dat fun place on weekends? Cause if eht iz, I ain't signing it. You don't deserve no fun place." Eloise had a weird sounding voice. She was from the states, and it made Olivia wonder if all Americans talked like that. She probably just had a rough voice from smoking for so long.

"No, it's for medicine. For health reasons." Olivia lied smoothly. She was a good liar because she'd done it so many times. But Eloise had eyes that could see into her soul.

"Liar! You're a nasty liar little bitch!" And Eloise punched her in the face.

She couldn't speak in her own household with out getting severely punished. She was content with being isolated and distant, so how was she going to cope with James Potter being her tutor?

. . . . . . . .

She got up the next morning, and jolted when she realized what was happening that day. Her roommates, Allie, Ethel, and Melinda were still sleeping. They were nice enough she guessed, didn't bully her in any way, but weren't that friendly.

It was Saturday, so she didn't have to wear her uniform. She went over the option of what to wear in her brain. This was James Potter after all, and she wanted to make a good impression. Pleated skirt or jeans? She held up her khaki skirt and her ripped faded skinny jeans that probably costed Eloise 5 dollars.

She was concentrating at the time, so she jumped when she heard rustling. Ethel was up. Her strawberry blond hair was up in a messy bun, and her blue eyes looked tired.

"Sorry Ethel, I didn't mean to wake you up." Olivia apologized, blushing. Ethel did the craziest thing. She smiled.

"No worries, and it's Thea. Ethel makes me sound 80 years old." She said winking. Olivia must have looked really shocked because Thea went on. "I want to make a difference between us. We've been roommates for a little over three years, and I've never really talked to you. I didn't think that was what you wanted, but I want to get to know you. So whatever you need that you haven't been able to say to a friend before... out with it."

Olivia was suspicious. Really? Just like that? Nothing like that had ever happened to her before. No one cared about her, so why would Thea suddenly decide that she did. But what if she was sincere? Olivia could use a friend after all she'd been through.

"What?" She asked, stunned. That was really intelligent Olivia. But Thea smiled reassuringly.

"Sincere. I decided last night, and nicked this so you would believe me." She replied holding up a bottle of clear potion. Truth potion. She chugged before Olivia could tell her not to.

"I want to be Olivia Declan's best friend," she said and Olivia's heart soared, "And I also have a crush on Sammy Mendez." She put her hand over her mouth before she giggled before she went on. "Allie and Melinda are best friends, I'm just the third wheel. You could say I need a friend too."

"What do you need?" Thea asked her. Olivia missed those words come out of somebody's mouth. They meant the world to her.

Olivia cried. "Thank you." She croaked out. Thea nodded. Then Olivia held up the clothing items she had in her hand. "Skirt or jeans?" She said with a wavering voice. And they laughed.

"Skirt." Thea answered, and she helped her get ready. Olivia wore her skirt, which was ginormous on her, tucked in a big plain blue shirt, put on a cute white sweater that was big on her like everything was, and wrapped her Hufflepuff scarf around her neck. Thea made her wear her gray converse and told her to keep them.

"You look... cute. You make those big clothes work." She made a snapping motion and they giggled. Olivia pulled her hair down, and it fell to her waist. She brushed it and decided to keep it in its natural waves. Thea gave her a white stretchy headband to pull it back with. "What are you even going to do?" Olivia hesitated, but quickly answered. She trusted Thea.

"I need tutoring for Transfiguration," she answered, a tad embarrassed. Thea nodded. "And my tutor is James Potter." She said nervously, the panicky feeling finally sinking in. Thea's eyes widened.

"Whoa..." She said. Then she laughed. "You look good though. And I bet girls will be really jealous of you." She added winking at Olivia, who turned red.

"I guess, but having a tutor is embarrassing." Thea nodded understandingly.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about Liv," She said. Liv? Olivia liked that, "Besides you are going to look great for James Potter!" Olivia laughed. Thea touched some things up, before stepping back and admiring her work.

"You're ready, now go!" Thea said, giving Olivia a squeezing hug, that was very reassuring, and she returned the hug to her friend.

. . . . . . . .

Olivia made her way down to the library and sat at a table towards the end. It was Saturday, so no one in their right mind would be in the building today. Except her.

She looked through her bag for a quill and ink. It became such a struggle, that she had to stand up, and dig through her book bag. Shit, why was that so hard? Her fingertip came in contact with her quill and she reached as far as she could and grasped it. She did the same this with her ink. Damn, it was like the bag was bigger than her.

She had just grabbed it, when she heard a thump. She jumped up, startled, to see a roguishly handsome James Potter. When the hell did he get there? But oh Merlin, he was beautiful to her. Every. Little. Thing. Every little raven hair on his head was in a messy, and she just wanted run her hands through it to see just how messy she could get it. And then she mentally slapped herself. His hazel eyes were bright and full of joy. She wished she could have that.

She realized she should say something after a minute. "James Potter, hi."

"Hello."

"I'm Olivia." She introduced, thinking that there was no way in hell he knew who she was. But...

"I know." He said smiling sweetly, and her heart soared.

"Oh." Was all she could say. She tried not to get too lost in his hazel eyes. Or note how cute his dimples were. She looked down and drowned the world out, and when she looked up a moment later, he looked like he was waiting for a response.

"I'm sorry, but what?" She said, feeling stupid, and turning crimson.

"Why do you always look down? You're beautiful." He said, tilting her chin up with his finger. Her face felt on fire.

"I'm not beautiful." She immediately disagreed.

"Yes you are. Absolutely."

"No."

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be tutoring me?" Olivia asked, trying to stray away from this awful topic that was making her feel worse.

"Yeah, let's get started."

And they did... In more ways than one.

. . . . . . . .

This chapter was so short, forgive me please! It's the only way I could think of ending it. Please review and give feedback! I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter, but things certainly get more interesting next chapter ;)

~Molly xoxoxo