Title: Diary of a Hufflepuff
Author name: Darkforest214
Category: General
Spoilers: Books 1 through 5
Rating: PG-13
Summary: This story was inspired by 'Troubled Waters: A Shadow of Doubt' (previously known as GatL)It's basically a diary of my main original Character.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Aka… I own nothing (except for the few characters I came up with…)
A/NI'm going to try something different here… My latest idea for a story is a Diary of Olivia James. My main, original character as depicted in 'Troubled Waters: A Shadow of Doubt.' I want to start with her first year and move on through her life at Hogwarts. I thought this could be an interesting idea so I started writing it, and I even have future parts of it planned out. But it starts with her first year…

Diary of a Hufflepuff

Olivia James

October 4, 1:30 pm
The weather today has been so unusually warm and sunny…with it being fall it's been raining a lot lately and really foggy. With this break in the weather just about everyone is outside enjoying the weather. Right now I'm just waiting for James… he came up to me yesterday after dinner and asked if we could talk…

"Of course…anytime," I said with a smile. He looked nervous and uncomfortable… I'm not sure why though.

Oh, wait, I see him coming now; I'll let you know what happens.

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

8:30 pm
Did I mention how lovely the weather was today! Everyone in the castle seems to be in a cheery mood. Myself included! Anyway, here's what happened with James…

James crossed the grounds coming toward me looking like he'd rather be going up against a heard of dragons. I stood up as he neared and called out to him.

"Looking for someone?" I asked jokingly.

"Not you," he called out, lightening up a bit.

When he finally reached me we were standing near the edge of the lake. The water was lapping against the shore with a cool breeze in the trees and the warm sun high above the castle in the nearly cloudless sky; it was a picture perfect moment.

James struggled for a moment, trying to come up with the right words for what he wanted to say. I turned to face the lake and sat down to try and take some of the edginess away. Soon he sat down next to me and we just sat their quietly, watching the sunlight dance on the surface of the water. Tyler must have been moving very quietly because we never heard or saw him coming…

A large rock broke the surface of the water near where we were sitting and made a large splash. Both James and I got wet, but I was the only one with sense enough to look behind us before accusing the Weasley twins.

"Tyler James, you better think next time you start throwing rocks!" I shouted.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, Ol?" he taunted as I stood to face him.

I looked thoughtful for a moment before answering him. "Tackle you!" I said and without warning I ran at him, bringing him to the ground. Normally I wouldn't be able to knock him off his feet, but I guess I surprised him. I almost managed to pin him, but he recovered from the initial shock of his sister knocking him over and shoved me off. But when he tried to get up James came out of nowhere and knocked him back down. He then surprised Tyler by wringing out the bottom half of his robes. The water dripped from them and soaked Tyler's face. He looked furious for all of five seconds before breaking down with laughter.

Sitting not to far from my brother I got a little wet, not that it mattered, I wasn't half as wet as Tyler! As we sat there laughing (and trying to dry out a bit before going in) a movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked but the 'thing' was gone. From what I saw, it looked like something was moving around in the dense bushes along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It might have been trying to untangle itself from a group of thorny bushes.

"Hey, guys," they must not of heard me because they kept joking around. "Tyler, James, look!" I said louder, hitting the nearest boy (didn't look, my eyes were locked on the spot where I had seen the movement).

"What'd go and hit me for?" Tyler asked, rubbing his arm.

"What happened? Did you see something?" asked James curiously.

"In the bushes over there," I said pointing.

"Along the edge of the Dark Forest?" asked Tyler.

"Yes," I said. What was so hard for them to understand?

"I don't see anything," said James.

"You know that the creatures stay away from school grounds," said Tyler. "It was probably just Hagrid."

"Look over there next to that thick tree trunk," I said, pointing again. "The thick bushes underneath it… I don't think Hagrid could get through those. Something was moving around over there."

Tyler shook his head and laughed, "Are you sure you're not seeing things, Ollie," he asked.

"Positive…" I mumbled while continuing to stare into the dense forest.

Tyler and James exchanged a questioning look before Tyler shrugged and suggested going inside. I told them I'd meet up with them later, they just kind of looked at me funny and left. I started walking casually in the direction of the forest when Fred and George came up behind me. At least they waited to approach until after my brother and James left…

"Lovely weather we're having," said the first. He was walking on my left and by the looks of it I think he was Fred. One can never be too sure though…

"Yes, too bad it will probably rain tomorrow," I said, looking up at the bright blue sky.

"Too true," said the red-headed Weasley to my right.

"So why are you two wasting your time with little ole' me when you could be out and about causing trouble," I said. "You know, I saw a group of Slytherins down near the Quidditch Pitch, they'd probably never expect—"

"Been there," said the one on my right

"Done that," finished the other on my left

"We already took care of them," said the one to my right, at this point I was positive it was George (I was just waiting for them to confirm it).

"At least I tried," I said with a smile and a shrug.

"Tried what?" asked the one to my left. "You tried to get rid of us, didn't you!" he said, trying to sound upset. "Did you hear that, George? She just told us to go away! Oh, woe is me…"

I was right! Fred was the one to my left while George was on my right. How is it that I can always tell them apart? Must be a twin thing (which reminds me, I need to write down my theories on twins). Back to the matter at hand…

"Yes, I heard, Fred. Is this true?" asked George, trying to sound hurt, but failing because a smile was pulling at his lips. "And here I thought you were different…so kind—"

"–so gentle—" added Fred.

"–so respectful."

"But we were wrong,"

"Dead wrong," said George, shaking his head.

"How could we have believed that this sweet young Hufflepuff was different?" said Fred, placing his hand over his heart and wiping away a tear.

I have to admit, these guys are good. They had me feeling guilty for something I didn't do! No wonder they get away with so much…even though it's obviously fake.

"We'll never be able to trust anyone ever again," said George, burying his head in his hands.

"Oh, come on guys, you know that's not what I meant," I said reassuringly.

"Lies, lies, they're all just lies," wailed Fred.

"I was only trying to help you cause trouble… that's what I meant by 'at least I tried,'" I said mater-of-factually, hoping they didn't see me role my eyes just then.

"You were going to help us cause trouble?" sniffed George, peeking out from behind his hands.

"But what if we had gotten caught?" asked Fred.

"Then we would be in trouble with Filch," I said with a shrug. I wasn't to sure where this was going, after all, I still wanted to investigate that movement in the bushes I had seen earlier.

"Uh-oh, speaking of Filch…" said George as he pointed to a person that was stalking rather quickly toward them, an all-to-familiar cat at his heels.

"Stupid Slytherins, they probably told on us," said Fred.

"You better get away from us before Filch sees you," said George, turning to me.

"If you run off now he'll think we tricked you or something," said Fred.

"Or I can help you two get out of trouble," I said. They exchanged looks then nodded. I could read their faces, they were already coming up with a back-up plan, just in case.

This leads me to think more about relationships between twins, but like I said before, I'll write more on this later. Back to the story…

"You two, come with me!" said Filch as he approached us.

"What are you accusing us of doing this time?" said Fred sarcastically.

"You know full well what you did," Filch spat, glaring at the twins.

"Um, Sir," I said, speaking up for the first time.

"And who's this?" Filch asked accusingly, glaring first at me then the twins. "Is this your next victim?"

"No, Sir, we haven't done anything to her," said George, "Have we?" he asked, turning to face me.

"No…Besides, they couldn't have done anything, Sir," I said, trying to get the nervousness out of my voice.

"Oh, and why is that?" asked Filch, glaring down at me.

"Because they were helping me," I said simply.

"Helping you?" said Filch, looking skeptically at me.

"Yes, they were sneaking up on me to pull some sort of prank when something caught their attention, distracting them," I said, gaining courage. "We saw a movement at the edge of the Forbidden Forest—"

"Something was moving in the bushes," said George, starting to catch on.

"We started to move toward it to try and catch a glimpse of it, or whatever 'it' was, but I think we spooked it," I said.

"Don't worry, we wouldn't have gone into the forest," said Fred, "only to the edge."

"We were arguing rather loudly about what it could have been," said George, "That's probably what scared it off."

Thank goodness the twins can be excellent liars when they have to, also the fact that they think quickly on their feet helps too.

"We were trying to decide whether or not to go see Hagrid about it when you came along," I said, finishing the story. Well, at least part of it was true… well, for me at least.

Filch looked back and forth between the three of us, but in the end he must have decided we were telling the truth because he let the twins off with a warning. "I better not catch you two doing anything else suspicious today or it'll b e worth a week of detention. As for you young lady, it would be better for you to avoid these two," he then walked away muttering something about 'pesky little first years,' that didn't know how to stay away from trouble and how the 'annoying red-headed twins' will ruin the school.

"Oh ye of little faith," I said as soon as Filch was gone, turning to face them both.

"What?" they both asked looking confused.

"Don't think I didn't catch that look you gave each other earlier. I know you two were coming up with a back up plan in case I failed," I said, glaring at each of them in turn.

"She's good," said George, looking to Fred.

"But how good?" Fred mumbled to George.

"Good enough to know that your back up plan involved setting off a few dung bombs and leaving me in the stench cloud with Filch. In the end we'd both smell awful for at least a week and you'd escape to prank another day," I said, looking sharply at Fred, showing that I had heard him.

"Wrong," said George with a sly grin. Drats, I was hoping my guess would have been right, or at least close…

"Oh?" said Fred, looking questioningly at his twin. So apparently that was their plan, or at least Fred had thought so. "That sounded pretty good, what part of that plan would you have changed?"

"The part where we leave her behind to get in trouble with Filch," said George.

"Oh, hadn't thought of that…" said Fred, George just snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Well it's good to know I wouldn't have been left behind," I said with half a smile. "I can picture it now, Fred would set of the dung bombs while George throws me unceremoniously over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes," I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"It sounds like something we'd do…" Fred said, looking slightly impressed.

"I wouldn't call you a sack of potatoes," said George. "You're more like a bag of dirty laundry," he joked.

"Dirty laundry?" I asked, eyebrow raised. "Gee, thanks…" I added sarcastically when he nodded.

'Dirty laundry?' What's that supposed to mean? Are my clothes all wrinkly and messy? Boys… :rolls eyes:

"Not that you're dirty or anything…" said George, trying to recover from his mistake.

Okay, so I'm not dirty, good to know… :shrug:

We then stood outside joking and bantering around until dinner. I had a lot of fun with those two. They told me several stories of their adventures, and let me tell you, I haven't laughed that hard inages! Although I never did get the chance to ask them what kind of prank they pulled on Cousin, maybe next time though. Unfortunatly the only way there will ever be a next time is if Tyler (and Cousin for that matter) doesn't find out what I did all day after he and James left. And if any of my close friends found out that I had helped them get out of trouble with Filch, I'd never hear the end of it…Which is why I had to lie to Tyler, Cousin and James at dinner…

"Ollie! There you are! Have you been outside this whole time?" Tyler asked when we ran into each other in the Great Hall.

"Of course, why not?" I shrugged. "The weather was perfect and a lot of other people were outside, so it's not like I was lonely or anything."

"Sorry we kind of just left you like that," said James.

"That's fine, don't worry about it," I said with a smile. "I had a lot of fun." Uh-oh, I had gone too far. Now Tyler was giving me that questioning look that sometimes comes mixed with worry.

"What all did you do?" asked Tyler, watching me carefully.

"Why so worried, Ty. It was just me and a couple of other first years…" I said, sounding annoyed. Something in the tone of my voice signaled to him to drop it, that and I gave him a quick glare. "What about you two?" I asked. "What did you do after you left?"

"Oh, we uh… we just talked," said Tyler. He exchanged a quick glance with James before returning his attention to his food. Fed up with the boys I turned my attention to Cousin and Laura. They were eager to tell me how they had spent their day watching the different Quidditch teams practice. Both of them were hoping to catch a glimpse of Harry Potter to see how good of a seeker he was but Slytherin and Ravenclaw were the only two teams to practice today. Looks like Hufflepuff will have to practice in the rain; because chances are, the weather won't remain this nice.

Rumor had it (according to Cousin) that Gryffindor would go out tonight after dinner to practice when the others didn't expect it. It's a good thing the first match is coming up soon; I don't think she can handle any more of this pressure. I'm sure Cousin wouldn't care so much if the guy she likes wasn't a chaser on the Hufflepuff team…

Any who, this update leads me here, where I'm laying on the floor of the common room in front of the fireplace writing. I really should update more often, not only when I'm in the mood to write or have nothing else to do. Then attain, I don't think you'd want to hear about every little detail of my life…but I really should write more often.

It's pretty late now (it takes time to write all this stuff down!) and I'm getting tired. As usual, I'll write if anything happens…

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

P.S. Let's hope I can make it upstairs without falling asleep…zzzzzz…

October 5, 3:47 am
I just woke up from another strange dream and I just had to write it down, least I forget…

I was standing at the edge of the Lake, staring out over the water. There was excitement in the air and everyone in the castle was moving around busily as if preparing for something. But I wasn't happy, unlike the rest of the students. The dream is just like the other one I had; no faces or names, just emotions and feelings. As I stood at the water's edge, robes fluttering in the wind, someone came up behind me and wrapped their arms around me in a hug. And now, as I lie awake, I can't think of who it could have been…somehow I know it wasn't Tyler… But in the dream I obviously knew him, and knew him well because I turned and buried my head in his shoulder.

"He should have been here," I said, my voice muffled by the other's robes. "He should have lived."

At that point I was so overcome by emotion that I woke up. The weird part is that when I woke I was sobbing almost uncontrollably into my pillow. This is the second dream I've had with the blurry faces and strong emotions. It almost felt like someone had died or something. I never had dreams like this back at home, they started when I came here. I hope they don't come true, because it felt like someone close to me had died or disappeared. I don't even want to think of who it was, but I have to go talk to Tyler.

You know what, I can't wait. I'm going to go see him now. I have to talk to him. Sometimes we share dreams, maybe we shared this one too…

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

4:50am
So I snuck into the boys' dorm and found Tyler. He was lying in bed crying and he had just awoken. I whispered that we needed to talk and he followed me out to the common room. There I told him about my dream, and how I had awoken up crying also. But when I asked him if that's what he had dreamt about he told me a different story.

"Oh, Ollie it was horrible," he said, his eyes down cast. "I've had another strange dream this year, but this one definitely qualifies as a nightmare.

"I was with someone else, a friend of mine, although I don't know who, and we were in a graveyard, but not by choice. I don't know how he got there but the one who transported us was now torturing us. 'Let's see if the theories are true,' the man hissed. His voice was so cold; Ol…it sent shivers down my spine," Tyler said, recalling the dream. "His voice was cold and vicious, and he had beady little eyes. He just looked evil. The next thing I felt was pain, and lots of it. And I remember asking him to stop, that he was hurting you. But you weren't even there Ol. All I knew is that you were off safe somewhere.

"The pain stopped and started several times, then there was a green flash of light and nothing… I felt nothing. And I mean, no pain, no fear, no…no life…nothing. At that point I woke up, I was still crying because of the pain, but I was so worried about you. I was thinking about sending an owl or something to contact you when there you were, staring at me through the crack in the curtains," he looked up at me and our eyes met. We had both witnessed something horrible that could possibly be in our future, and there was nothing we could do about it.

"Maybe we should tell Professor Dumbledore," suggested Tyler after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know," I said. "It almost sounds like You-Know-Who attacked you in your dream, but he's been gone for 11 years."

"Gone, but maybe not dead," said Tyler.

We both sat on the couch in front of the dying fire, holding each other's hands for comfort and support (like we did as young children when awoken by a storm or nightmare) until the Fat Friar cam gliding through the common room wall and sent us to bed. My mind is racing and I don't think I'll be able to get to sleep, but I'm going to try. Let's see, it's about 5:07 in the morning now, I might be able to get at least another hour and a half of sleep before cousin wakes me up to go to the library before breakfast. If I have any more dreams you'll be sure to hear about it…

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

7:30 am
Oh my gosh, you wouldn't believe it! I had another weird dream, although not as disturbing as the other. It started off normal, well, normal for a dream, but ended up as one of those weird futuristic dreams. Oddly enough, the dream wasn't mine…it was kind of an-out-of-body experience…

The dream started with visions of my brother and I playing around outside our house when we were five then it switched to a vision of Cousin and I chatting in the Great Hall, a bunch of random scenes like that. Then it shifted to a dark corridor. It wasn't me, but I was looking through someone else's eyes. I don't know, it all seemed so odd…

In the dark corridor there were two others with me, I'm not sure who though, and there was a sense of danger or a sense that we weren't supposed to be there. Just as I, or whoever, was about to open the door the scene shifted. Now there was only two of us. Something bad had happened to the third, and a sense of worry had been added to the sense of uncertainty and fear. Before us was a table with several potion bottles on it, then the scene shifted again. Now I was alone and standing in front of a mirror. All of a sudden, the dream ended and I woke up. Slightly dazed and confused it took me a moment to realize where I was and who was shaking me awake; and to remember the disturbing visions and thoughts of the night before.

Even as I sit here writing this, I keep thinking about what Tyler said before going to bed "Gone, but maybe not dead." I can't help but get the feeling that there is some sort of trouble at hand, and not the juvenile mischief of the Weasley twins…

I've got to go, Cousin and Laura are here, ready and waiting for me to come to breakfast with them. I haven't seen outside yet, but I hope the day is just as beautiful as yesterday!

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

1:00 pm
Whoa, hey! Four entries in one day! I think this is a record for me. Ha, you'll be sick of me by the end of the day…

The clouds and cold must have come in the night, because this morning the ceiling in the Great Hall mirrored the stone gray sky outside, complete with big rolling storm clouds. All morning it seemed as if it would start raining at any moment, but it didn't come until noon while everyone was enjoying their lunch. Without warning lightning shot across the ceiling, shortly followed by a very loud explosion of noise outside. Quite a few girls in the Hall shrieked, while others just jumped. I nearly leapt out of my seat, dropping my fork with a loud clatter onto my plate. After a few moments of nervous silence the Great Hall erupted into excited, anxious voices. After the initial strike of lightning and roar of thunder more followed, but were more or less ignored. I saw several students looking up at the ceiling, watching the magical lightning light up the Hall and enjoying the mystical streaks as nature put on a lovely firework display.

So, needless to say everyone stayed inside (as it is still pouring down rain). The common room is too noisy for homework, and the library is unusually crowded so I decided to just curl up in bed with a good book and to update you (although I really need to work on my homework). I wouldn't want to show up to Potions Monday without Snape's latest essay if someone paid me 1,000 galleons! Okay, so maybe I would…

Also I need to ask Laura about this one spell I read about. I've been studying ahead in Charms and Transfiguration, and from what I've heard the only other first year that is advanced as I am is Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor. Although she's further along then I am, and from what Cousin and Laura told me several of the Ravenclaws are jealous. I don't think I'm that smart, but I've got common sense and I just so happen to find those two subjects fascinating. It's easier to learn things when you're interested, trust me.

Tyler would say I'm stalling…avoiding my homework until the last minute… I just don't feel like doing it. :Sigh: fine, fine…stop nagging. I'll go do it… (No, I'm not crazy; I was only talking to myself…)

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

October 8, 7:30pm
Another boring lesson in History of Magic, Professor Binns must have died of boredom, I don't see why Dumbledore doesn't hire someone more interesting, someone more…alive…but he's still better than Snape!

I got so frustrated in Potions I nearly cried. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but Snape is always so unfair and you can't help but hate him. I usually try to remain unnoticed, but today Ty managed to grab his attention. I hate that he picks on him.

The day started off great, it has been raining off and on since Sunday but it finally stopped some time over night and this morning the sky was the brightest blue I've ever seen. Which is unusual for October…I was so hyper and happy during breakfast that I nearly drove Cousin mad! Transfiguration was nothing but lectures and notes, so much for my favorite class. Then there was History of Magic, no need to mention how boring that was (I wouldn't want to put you to sleep). To top it all off, we had double potions…

"Mr. James, did you even bother to read my instructions?" Professor Snape said to Tyler as he patrolled through the classroom. Tyler turned beet red and looked down at his hands. "How many times must I repeat myself? I want you to write an essay on potion making, so I at least know exactly how little knowledge about Potions you have."

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded quietly.

"And no help," said Snape, casting an evil glance in my direction. "I want it on my desk before the end of the day tomorrow."

I didn't think Ty could go any redder, but somehow he managed. I could tell he was outraged at the fact it was due so soon but he kept a civil tongue and asked quietly, "How long should it be, Sir?"

Snape looked thoughtful for a moment, which is a rather scary sight to see. Goodness knows what evil things were going through his twisted mind… "I'll be generous and make it only a foot and a half," he sneered.

Tyler bit his tongue and nodded. I knew what he was thinking; he'll do the simple essay and some, it'll probably be an extra foot long!

After potions Tyler waited until we were back in the common room, dropping off our books, to vent his frustrations.

"An essay! Why should I have to write an essay! I certainly know more then that snot nosed Malfoy… Besides, I'm not the only one that makes mistakes in that class," said Tyler, obviously angry and frustrated.

"You're just the only one to get caught," I said quietly.

"What makes it worse is that it's due tomorrow!" said Tyler. "Why does he always single me out?" he asked earnestly.

"Try not to think about it too much, Ty," said Laura, picking up on our conversation. "Snape picks on somebody from every class and every house, except his own of course."

"Word has it, he picks on poor Harry Potter the most," said Cousin. Seems like she always knows the latest gossip…

"Well it's never been a secret that he despises all Gryffindors…" said Laura.

"Look on the bright side," I said, trying to cheer him up, "he didn't take away any points."

"This time," said Tyler sarcastically.

"Let's just forget about it for now and go to dinner," I said.

"Fine, but I can't stay long, once I'm done eating I'm gone… I have a paper on Potion making to write," said Tyler bitterly.

"If you need any help let me know," said James as he clapped his hand on Ty's back supportively. "Snape doesn't have to know."

"Thanks," said Tyler with a half smile.

"Anytime… Hey, Liv, can I borrow your Transfiguration notes? I um…I fell asleep," said James, changing the subject to lighten the mood as we headed to the Great Hall.

"Sure, but only if I can borrow your History of Magic notes," I said. "I sort of zoned out," I added sheepishly.

As soon as Tyler finished eating he headed, somewhat reluctantly, to the library. The rest of us stayed to chat for a while before going off to do our homework. I finished about twenty minutes ago and decided to update you on the 'Happenings of Hogwarts' (although it's more like what's going on in my life then that of the school's…).

Things seem to be settling down…I've gotten used to being away from home, I've made new friends and the library is absolutely amazing. I really like it here, Hogwarts is great (except for a few teachers, of course) and I'm looking forward to the next six years here. There is just something about this place, something…magical… I know, I know, don't laugh. This is a school for young witches and wizards, so obviously there's magic. It's just hard to explain…one can't help but feel safe here…

Live, Laugh, Love
—Olivia James

A/N: I'll post more when I get back from vacation (and get more typed) R&R please!