Author's Note: Hello all! This is Marion, happy to say that Carrie and I are getting back on a roll, and updates should be getting more regular. We want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far… It means a lot to us, and we hope that as our updates happen more frequently you will all continue to read and review.

As you all know, the last chapter was Marion's Chapter, due to the fact that Carrie was unable to write for a while. I finally dragged that girl kicking and screaming ( ;) Love ya Carrie) out of her hiding spot and made her write… So now we've got a nice, looong Carrie's Chapter! Enjoy!

Carrie exited the pet store and set out against the chilling wind of the late fall. In her arms there was a small, blue bundle, whose nose was twitching wildly in the air. After a few blocks, she arrived at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Inc., the newly acquired meeting spot for the gang. It had become habit after work to go to the shop and help Fred, George, and Nancy close up. Then, about half an hour later, Marion and Oliver would come from the Quidditch stadium. The six of them would hang out, catch up, and talk for a while, and then all departed back to their houses. (Or sometimes elsewhere.)

This particularly cold day of the late fall, Carrie put the blue, wriggling puppy onto the counter, and went to make everyone some tea. When she came back five minutes later, she knew there was a problem. Fred and George had found the puppy, and were debating what to do.

"Make it spotted!" One called.

"Striped!" yelled the other.

"Spotted!"

"Striped!"

"Spotted!"

"Striped!"

"Spot-"

"Nothing," Carrie intervened, "You are not to do anything to that puppy." The twins looked at her for a moment, and then at the exact same time a spell shot from each of their wands. Fred's was yellow, and George's blue; now the puppy had yellow stripes and blue spots.

Carrie was furious. "You idiots, you…you… aah," she muttered, trying to stay calm. She marched over to the puppy, elbowing both twins quite forcefully on the way, (which left them gasping for air) and picked it up. He didn't seem to mind the color change too much – in fact, Carrie was quite sure that he didn't even know.

"I…cannot…believe…you…two…incompetent…blundering,…IDIOTS!" She said through gritted teeth.

"What'd they do now?" Marion asked, who had just walked in, along with Oliver, as they heard Carrie's last sentence. Nancy had also reappeared from the storage room.

Carrie was too angry to speak, so she simply showed the dog to the crowd. Marion was not happy. "Carrie…no dog. I told you. You have to take him back."

"B-but no one will buy him! Because he's blue! Or, was blue, or will be blue-" she shot a glare at the twins, "- once he's all fixed up. People only buy purple puppies, they don't like blue puppies. We HAVE to take him."

Marion was clearly having difficulties with the decision. She adored dogs as well, but she felt that it was just too much to have one around the house at the moment. The room fell silent. Five pairs of eyes were on her. She sighed. "Alright, bring him home… but if there's someone else that wants him, he's going there, ok?"

Carrie ran over and hugged her best friend with one arm- the other was holding the dog. "Thank you Marion, you won't regret this!"

"I'm sure I won't…" Marion muttered sarcastically, once Carrie had let go and turned around.

"Now, how do we get this off?" Carrie asked.

"We'll do it!" chorused the twins at once. She just glared. Nancy stepped out from behind the counter.

"I've got it." She smiled, and with a quick swish of her wand, the puppy was blue again.

"Ok, now that that is settled…" said Oliver, who had been silently watching the scene in front of him. He turned his attention to Carrie. "Where are we going tonight? It's getting too cold to just walk about aimlessly…"

"There is that new restaurant that just opened around the corner- sort of a small café… thing-y..." Nancy suggested.

Carrie and Oliver agreed to it, and left the rest to figure out their own plans. At the time of their departure, Marion wanted to go shopping, and Fred just wanted a quick nap and then dinner. Meanwhile, Nancy and George closed up shop and made their separate ways home.

On the way, Carrie and Oliver stopped at Carrie's (and Marion's) house to drop off the puppy, and also to allow Carrie to change- she had puppy fur all over her. She gave the puppy to Oliver to hold, ripped the blanket off Marion's bed, and brought it over so that the puppy could lay on it. After Oliver put him down on it, she took the sheets off the bed and put them over the puppy so that he wouldn't be cold. And just to make sure that he was very comfortable, she grabbed Marion's pillows and slid them under the head of the puppy.

"Cute," Oliver said, rolling his eyes, looking at the sleeping puppy, which looked quite pampered. "So what are you going to name him?"

"I don't know yet- I guess I'll have to talk to Marion about it. But for now he's named Puppy."

Oliver laughed, and Carrie smiled back. She told him to watch over the sleeping puppy while she ran to her room and changed quickly, and then the two made their way to dinner. When they arrived at the café, they took a small table on the side. Although Carrie was mainly used to seeing purple from Pete's store, she had to admit that the blue, green, and other cool colors covering the café looked very nice.

"All of this green brings out your eyes." Oliver said, looking from her green sweater (once again, she had decided to wear muggle clothes while going out – they were much more flattering, and much warmer.) to the green awnings surrounding them.

Carrie felt her usual shyness coming forward. She hated it when this happened. "Oh, no," she muttered, flushing a bit, "they're really – they're, er… well they're weird." She was getting mad at herself for stuttering like that. "They sort of change colors sometimes…I guess with all of the green around they look green…"

She suddenly became very interested in the menu – she didn't want to look up into his own beautiful green eyes just yet. The waitress came shortly, and after they placed their order they got into a talk about Fred and Marion. (Needless to say, Carrie was happy for the subject change)

"I think that Marion is a little… a little homesick." Carrie explained. "I just wish there was a way that she could be happier here…"

"Are you homesick?" Oliver asked.

"What?"

At this point the food came, and the interruption gave Carrie some time to think about the question she definitely had heard.

"Are you homesick?" He later repeated.

"I don't know… sort of, I guess…"

"Sort of?"

"We – Marion and I – have lived in New York all our lives. We grew up there, went to school there, we knew everything about the city. Then neither of us could find jobs, because in the whole huge city there's only a small wizarding population. I was so excited to be coming here – we were finally going to get out of that place, finally able to go somewhere. And then here – it's the total opposite. I barely know anyone, and everything is strange and new."

"You talk too fast." He laughed, and took a bite of his food. The rest of the dinner passed with a little awkwardly, with a bit of small talk. They finished, and Oliver got up and paid the bill. When they walked outside he turned to her, his eyes boring into hers. "You've still got me here, you know."

"Of course!" She said, as they walked. When they got to her place, the strolled up to the small front porch.

Oliver suddenly leaned forward and put his arms around her, and carefully pulled her in for a kiss. (Which she did not object to…) To tell the truth, she had been hoping that he would. Carrie was not sure how long it lasted – a few seconds maybe, or a few minutes, but it seemed that as quickly as it happened it was over.

"Goodnight, Oliver." She said, slipping into her house.

"Goodnight."