That night, the common room was buzzing with talk of Harry Potter. He had gone to bed immediately with the rest of the first years, but the boy-who-lived was still famous with everyone else.

Oliver and Deena were sitting side by side on a pair of overstuffed chairs. Oliver droned on excitedly about his plans for Gryffindor Quidditch as Deena dreamily sipped her tea.

"Well, with Fondor gone, we might stand a chance," Wood said, referring to one of Slytherin's brutal beaters. "Now with the Weasley twins as beaters, and Alicia as a chaser - that girl's amazing, all we need is a seeker." Oliver pounded the arm of his chair with a fist.

"Mm-hm," Deena murmured.

Oliver was muttering to himself for a few moments longer when Fred and George, the Weasley twins, arrived.

"Hey, you know my brother Ron's a first year?" George asked.

"Our brother," Fred corrected.

"He made a friend on the Express this morning."

"Oh?" Oliver arched an eyebrow at the two notorious mischief-makers.

"Yeah, no one you've ever heard of before. In fact I don't even remember his name... you George?"

"Oh, Potter something... Harry Potter?"

"No.. never heard of him." Deena grinned at the identical red-headed boys.

"Yeah, well we're heading up to bed. G'night." Fred said.

"And just remember, soon enough we'll be close personal friends of Mr. Potter up there, so you better be nice to us if you expect us to remember the little people when we're famous."

"Okay, George, I'll keep that in mind," Deena winked and playfully kicked the Weasley boy in the leg.

"Those two..." Oliver shook his head and for a split second Deena thought maybe one single, solitary non-Quidditch related-sentence might escape his lips, but Oliver grinned, and said, "Incredible beaters. I suppose it runs in the family. I wonder what that first year brother of theirs is capable of..."

***

Since the beginning of the year was reserved for "review time," Oliver was simply too bored to stay awake for the remainder of Charms class. Professor Flitwick was excitedly going over a list of levitating spells as Oliver was drifting off. His eyes fluttered and finally closed, when a familiar voice was heard from the doorway.

"Eh, excuse me Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Oliver perked up as he heard his name being mentioned, and turned to see Professor McGonagall standing in front of a strangely familiar boy.