Monday 11th October 1993
Another week arrived again, and with it, first period transfiguration with McGonagall and the Gryffindors. As usual, Liv – and by extension Holly – had arrived early and had taken their seats. They had stayed up late on Sunday night exchanging gossip; Holly recounting the details of her date-but-not-a-date, and Liv with the amusing story of Oliver Wood proposing a – well, what was it? A date? One o'clock in the morning had arrived without them being able to figure that one out, and so they had gone to bed.
"Now tell me," a familiar voice rang out, "are you part Veela or something?"
It was, of course, Fred Weasley, sitting down at their shared desk. Liv turned to face him.
"That's a rather bold pick-up line," she joked. "You could just be old school and tell me I'm pretty though."
"You're a cruel woman, you know that?" He rocked back in his chair, grinning. "Why haven't you given our Wood an answer yet? I'm telling you – I've never known the guy to take an interest in anything that wasn't Quidditch. I think it was the way you shouted at him. Reckon he's into that kind of thing."
"I didn't shout at him," Liv said defensively. "And it's only been one day. Anyway, he just wants to corner me into helping him with this magical Quidditch timetable thing. He's in seventh year, Fred. Be a bit weird if he was asking out a fifth year."
This was true, but as Liv was turning 16 in a few weeks' time, there wasn't really that much of an age gap between her and Wood. Her and Holly had discussed this the night before, somewhat giggly.
"A magical what now?"
"It's - well, it doesn't matter. I'm spending my Hogsmeade trip with Holly. It's our tradition – first trip of the year is for us."
"Is that so?" Fred said slowly and menacingly. Liv looked at him, frowning in confusion. "Dear Olivia," he continued, "you really ought to not frown so much. You do it a lot, you know. You'll end up with a face like a Mandrake. Anyway – I've heard from Laurie Martin that she's got Holly booked for that weekend." Fred wiggled his eyebrows.
Unfortunately, this was true, and Liv already knew it. Holly had asked if it would be alright to break their tradition this year – and quite frankly, it was a tradition Liv didn't carry much weight for. Her and Holly spent almost all their time together, she wasn't precious about losing a weekend. What she was precious about, however, was making sure that Oliver thought the two friends had an unshakable bond, meaning that Liv could absolutely not, under no circumstances, join him in the Hogsmeade weekend.
It wasn't that Liv disliked Oliver. She certainly respected him as a Quidditch player. From what she knew about him, she thought he seemed a fair and decent bloke. She even thought him rather handsome. The reason for her reluctance was simply that she didn't want to get involved with Quidditch any more than she already was. She loved the sport but training three times a week on top of trying to keep her grades up was already a struggle, especially this year with her OWLs coming up. Oliver was insatiable when it came to Quidditch – she knew if she gave him an inch, he'd take a mile.
"Perhaps I like my own company," Liv said to Fred loftily as she began taking out her parchment and quill. Fred scoffed.
"Well, yeah, I know that already. I didn't know it was possible for someone to spend as much time as you do alone in the library."
Liv paused before looking at Fred. "Have you been watching me in the library?"
If Liv didn't know any better, she'd say that the tips of Fred's ears began to turn pink. He busied himself getting out his own stationery.
"I just see you there when I walk by sometimes," he shrugged. Turning to her, he said, "You're frowning again."
McGonagall walked in then and quickly began their lesson.
"By the way," Liv said casually as her and Fred began clearing away their things, "my name isn't Olivia." The bell had rung, and the classroom was filled with the noise of chatter and chairs scraping.
"Ah-ha!" Fred exclaimed so loudly it made Liv jump. "A mystery, you say?"
Liv said nothing and tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible.
"Interesting, interesting..." Fred mimicking stroking a beard on his bare face. "I will accept this challenge, Miss Jones, with due diligence!"
Without another word, he joined up with his twin and left.
Saturday 30th October 1993
Liv woke early on the Saturday of the Hogsmeade trip as normal, though only out of habit. She was hoping to be able to sleep in this week, but her body clock was wired hard. She had decided to stay away from the Quidditch pitch for her Saturday morning runs after the other week – until Oliver had his magical timetable anyway – but, not wanting to throw the baby out with the bath water, had resolved to run to Hogsmeade instead. Having walked there before, she knew the distance and so could pace herself accordingly. She also knew there weren't too many hills – something the Hogwarts grounds couldn't boast, hence her reluctance to simply jog around the school. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Liv decided to change into her running clothes after a quick wash and head down to the Great Hall with her unfinished Care of Magical Creatures homework. Before leaving, she slipped a note explaining where she had gone under Holly's pillow, who was lightly snoring like the rest of their dorm mates.
Only a small smattering of students were at breakfast. Liv helped herself to coffee and began her work. She had elected to take Care of Magical Creatures in third year along with Ancient Runes but only by process of elimination. Liv had hated maths at primary school so steered well away from Arithmancy, she saw no appeal in Muggle Studies being herself from the Muggle world, and Divination she saw akin to Muggle newspaper horoscopes – that is, nonsense. However, she was glad she had chosen the subjects she had – Ancient Runes was fascinating, but Care of Magical Creatures was where she had found her true passion. Though their studies were primarily limited to land-based creatures, in her own private studying she had found the creatures of the sea to be a remarkable and quite frankly understudied element of wizarding academia. In the Muggle world, Liv would have said that she wanted to be a marine biologist once leaving school – she hoped a magical equivalent existed.
Gradually, the Hall began to fill up, and eventually Holly sat opposite her.
"Why are you dressed like that?" Holly's tone was, as usual, blunt.
Liv looked up. "Good morning to you too. I'm gonna run to Hogsmeade," she said matter-of-factly.
Holly paused. "Fucking weirdo," she muttered, reaching for bacon. "That colour looks nice on you though. You ever thought about how lucky we are to get sorted into a House who's colour is complementary to our complexion?"
Liv laughed, as she admitted to herself that yes, she had thought that before. Both Holly and Liv were similar in appearance: they both had dark hair – Liv's curly, Holly's straight – with pale, wind chafed skin, and the Ravenclaw blue did suit them.
"Thanks," replied Liv to the compliment. "You look nice too."
And she did – Holly had clearly made an effort with her appearance today. A black belt on her baggy ripped jeans pulled in a checkered shirt around her waist, and her hair, whilst in its usual middle part, was pulled back from her face with two cute, clunky clips. Liv always made sure to share Muggle teen fashion magazines with her pure-blood friend to make it easier to keep up with trends.
"Nervous?" Liv asked her friend, remembering her day ahead with Laurie. Holly shrugged in reply but said little more over breakfast.
