Of course, Poppy had been right about Max Bailey. She was never wrong about anything. Since her first breakfast, Olive had been taking a real interest in Max. But because he was in second year, the only time she really saw him was on the way to classes and in the common room. But he was always flirting with girls in the corridors, and in the common room he was always with all his friends and Olive might be confident, but she wasn't quite brazen enough to strut over to someone she'd never spoken to and who was a year older than her when he was surrounded by all his friends and strike up a conversation.

But, on the bright side, she didn't think that she had gone unoticed. Max had given her a few more of the same looks he had given her at breakfast nearly three weeks ago. But, what annoyed her was that he was never seen with the same girl. But she refused to admit her sister was right. She refused to put the words "Poppy" and "right" in the same sentence. It occured far too often already.

"Olive?" Gemma asked, urgently.

"What?" Olive said, abruptly, snapping back to life. She had been gazing at Max, but now decided to pretend to be staring out of the common room window.

"I've just been talking to you for the past five minutes!" Gemma said, impatiently.

"Oh, sorry," Olive replied, apologetically. She turned to face her parchment and quill again. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking how you did your Transfiguration homework," Gemma said, still staring at Olive strangely.

"Oh, I've already done it," Olive answered, hastily.

"I know," Gemma answered, slowly. "I was asking you how. Are you feeling alright, Olive?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Olive replied, cooly. She was very good at lying. One thing that she felt lucky about, she never went red. "Why?"

"Nothing. You were just acting really weird. You were staring into space for about ten minutes."

"Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About...cheese."

"Cheese?"

"Yeah."

"Why were you thinking about cheese?"

"Because cheese is cool! What do you have against cheese?"

"Nothing. It's just a bit weird to be thinking about it when you're doing your homework!"

"There's never a bad time to think about cheese!" Gemma peered at Olive suspiciously. She may be very smooth, but behind that cool exterior, Gemma could tell that she was hiding something.

"What's really going on, Olive?"

"Nothing! I'm going to go and send an owl now." And with that, she departed abruptly from the room. Ryan came over and sat down in her place.

"What was that about?" Gemma whispered, aloud.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing. Just Olive being...weird. What's up?"

"How did you do your Transfiguration homework?" Ryan asked.

"I don't know! I was trying to ask Olive but she just kept going on about cheese!"

"I like cheese," Ryan muttered.

"Not you too!" Gemma sighed, exasperatingly.

"No, it's alright!" Ryan insisted. "I won't go off on a rant! Has Olive done her Transfiguration?"

"Yeah. But she didn't get round to telling me how she did it."

"Mrs Gaultier's going to go insane."

"I know. But Louis could get away with it. After all, he is her nephew."

"I can't believe she's part Veela!"

"So's Louis," Gemma pointed out.

"And Dominique and Victoire," Ryan added.

"Did you do your Potions?" Gemma asked, getting out her copy of Potions: A Beginner's Guide.

"Nope. Professor Stuart will just have to deal with it. He won't like it, but that's just life."

"Herbology?" Gemma asked.

"I don't need to write that down! It's all in my head."

"Why is it always the two of us that never do their homework?"

"Because we're too mentally advanced to do something so primitive as homework!"

"Oh look!" Gemma exclaimed, ignoring Ryan's pathetic and completely untrue excuse that he always used. "Violet's here! She can help us with our Herbology!"

"Or, she can just ask Professor Longbottom for the answers and just give them to us."

"Ryan, you promised you wouldn't take advantage of the fact that Professor Longbottom is her dad."

"You say "taking advantage" as if it's a bad thing. Why don't we be optimistic about this situation?"

"Violet!" Gemma rolled her eyes and called her over. "Can you please help us with the Herbology homework?"

"Sure," Violet agreed, kneeling down between Ryan and Gemma.

"Well," Gemma started, getting out the parchment which she had done about half of the work already. "I've already done the foot long parchment of the defence mechanism of the Mandrake. But I'm not really sure what the properties of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia are."

"And Ryan?" Violet requested. "How far have you gotten up to?"

"I don't even know what a defence mechanism is," Ryan replied, truthfully.

"Oh OK," Violet sighed. "That far. Right, Gemma, basically.." She began to explain the properties of Mimbulus Mimbletonia to her. When she was finished, she turned to face Ryan again.

"And Ryan, you can just copy mine. It'll take way too long if I try and explain it to you." Ryan, not a bit insulted, got out a blank piece of parchment and his quill. Violet went and got her Herbology homework.

"If you don't recognize some of the words," she said. "Just say them out loud and sound them out s..lo..wl...y." Everyone teased Ryan for having no brains, although that wasn't actually the case. He had plenty of intelligence, he just never used it. He never tried in class or did his homework. Gemma, on the other hand, was clever. She just got stuck on her homework occasionally, like most people. She was top in Charms though, and she was the only one remotely interested in History of Magic. Albus had told his new friends all about Professor Binns, basing them on the story he'd heard from his dad. The old and reedy ghost that was Professor Binns was still there, telling students the history of magic in his monotonous voice. The entire first year class sat with their heads on desks, playing hangwizard and noughts and crosses, or in Olive and Allison's case doing their nails. Olive had learnt this artistic skill from her mother, naturally. A lot of people even used a few sweets from the Skiving Snackboxes Fred had been selling around Hogwarts, so that they didn't have to bother to come at all. The only two people that paid attention in this ever dreaded class were Gemma and Rose. They sat together looking absolutely riveted by Professor Binns's classes and taking notes eagerly.

"Gem," Ryan started, cautiously. "When I'm done with Herbology, can I copy your History of Magic homework." Gemma looked up and glared. She didn't mind Ryan copying her other work, not even Charms, when she was in a good mood. But, she was very particular about A History of Magic. She didn't like the way no one listened to Professor Binns, and she'd like it if people paid a little attention because it wasn't very polite not to pay attention to someone who had devoted their time to teaching students. She had given everyone this lecture every single day since their first lesson. Everyone loved Gemma, she had a kind heart and a comforting personality. But, she could be extremely irritating when it came to her and her beloved History of Magic lessons.

"When are you going to do your own work for a change?" Gemma asked, wearily. "And I'm talking about all subjects."

"I have to agree with Gemma on this one," Violet said. "You do copy and awful lot."

"I know! It's so tiring!"

"Oh yeah?" Gemma asked, sarcastically. "Imagine how exhausting it is doing it yourself?"

"God, I can't even imagine that!" He winced at the looks Violet and Gemma were giving him now. "Oh, come on! I do Defence Against The Dark Arts homework!"

"Mr Collins never gives us any homework," Gemma pointed out.

"I know. That's why it's my favourite class! So, can I copy the History of Magic?"

"Why even bother?" Violet asked. "Professor Binns never checks the homework anyway!"

"That's true," Ryan noticed. "Oh, never mind then, Gem." And with that, he handed Violet back her Herbology homework, put his own plagiarised copy into his bag and opened up a magazine. Gemma rolled her eyes, and then peered at the cover.

"Are you reading Witch Weekly?" she asked suspiciously, grinning.

"I'm checking my horoscope!" Ryan exclaimed defensively, as the two girls laughed.