Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all it's characters, names, and trademarks belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brother's Studios. I am neither, nor will I ever be.

The next few weeks were fairly unremarkable. The Marauders and I were becoming closer, until I was like a cousin or a step-sister; almost one of the guys. James liked me because I had set him up with Lily. Remus liked me because I was able to hold a decently intelligent conversation. Peter put up with me because I brought food, and because I was nicer to him, listening to his pitiful whining over tiny things. (It was the mother in me that made me sit there and listen to him.) And Sirius…I think he liked having me there because I was so much like him. We were both outcast from our families, we were both fiercely independent, stubborn, and we were both casual and laidback.

Now that his best friend was occupied a lot with Lily, Sirius and I spent a lot of time together, alone or otherwise. I found myself slowly developing the tiniest of crushes on the boy. It was like a crack; every now and then he would chip at it, and it would grow wider. I often caught Remus looking at me looking at Sirius, giving me that annoying little grin that seemed to say, "You know you want him."

I knew it was unreasonable; it was common knowledge that Sirius preferred no-strings-attached relationships, preferably with girls who had figures and looks to go with them. I had neither, so I immediately crossed myself off the Sirius eligibility list.

Lily and James quickly grew attached. After a few days of turbulence, during which James would barely let her out of his sight, for fear she would disappear or change her mind, or something else unpleasant, thus annoying Lily to no end. It was like him constantly asking her out, but worse. But, James quickly discovered how much this irked his beloved Lily, so he quit following her like a chicklet to a mother hen.

After those few days, they became one of those disgustingly adorable couples. Holding hands, eating food off each other's plate, drinking pumpkin juice out of the same goblet with two straws. They'd exchange little pecks when greeting for leaving each other, and Remus, Peter, and Sirius hinted that those little pecks turned into full-out snogging, behind closed doors.

Their relationship was not a perfect one, however. Lily had a jealous streak, one that was inflicted on many girls including myself.

"You traitor! You lying slut! You filthy bitch! Get your bloody arse back here before I come and get it myself!" I looked over my shoulder, then realized that she was talking to me.

"Lily are you-"

"Don't lie to me, I saw you!"

I gave her a blank look, as she paced up and down the corridor, nearly trampling a poky first year was she fumed. People were hurriedly stepping out of her way; Lily's temper was infamous.

"All this time I've ignored it. Those discreet little glances, those tiny sighs when he walks by with his friends. You set me up with him, just so you could watch me fall, but now he's mine! You didn't count on that, did you, so now you're trying to steal him away from me!" She was panting, her face pink. She inhaled deeply then raged on.

"I should have seen the signs. When he, Remus, Sirius, And Peter were together you'd look longingly over there, as though it were forbidden fruit sitting on a platter. But now you've topped the cake! Yesterday, directly after lunch you hugged him!"

I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off again. "I don't want to hear your lies. You've lied enough already."

"Lily, stop. Listen. Yes, I hugged him yesterday. But yesterday I also hugged Remus, Peter, Sirius, Louis, Adriana, you. I hug people, that doesn't mean I'm lusting after them."

A bit put-out by my logical explanation, Lily asked, "Then why do you always stare at him like you fancy him?"

I flushed. "Has it occurred to you that's it's not him I'm looking at?"

She frowned, puzzled. Then, a thought dawned, and I swore I saw a lightbulb over her head. "You like another Marauder!" She exclaimed. One minute she was yelling, red in the face, and the next minute she's gossiping about my crushes. Talk about bipolar.

"Hush, I don't want the whole school to know."

She lowered her voice as she thought out loud. I headed for the library, a muttering Lily in tow. "It's not James, you've made that clear, I'm assuming it's not Pettigrew. It isn't, is it?"

I shook my head, trying not to be disgusted. Peter was alright, just too whiney for boyfriend material.

"So it's between Remus and Sirius. Hmm. That reminds me, Remus is ill."

"What?" I asked, wheeling around to face her. "What is it?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. He gets sick quite a lot. I think they all worried about him, because last time Remus was sick, none of them got much sleep. Yawning all over the place."

"I'll be sure to ask about him then."

I did ask about Remus the following day at breakfast. "He's getting…." Peter trailed off to yawn deeply. "…better."

I remembered what Lily had said, but was puzzled. Sirius and James were currently flinging eggs at Hufflepuff first-years, laughing cordially, while a bit sleepily. They didn't seem worried in the slightest.

"Your Empowerment Elixirs should nearly be finished. Be careful when adding the slugs; you don't want to mess up the potion you've been waiting a month for!" I studied the book in front of me, reading the instructions a fourth time. "On the first day of the waning moon, add the diced slugs…" First day of the waning moon? Yesterday was the full moon? Huh.

I carefully diced my slugs, ignoring the unpleasant squelching sound they made upon contact with the knife. I scraped them into the potion, watching as the once-thin and light mixture became thick and gloopy. I read the description, deciding that gloopy was close enough.

"You forgot to turn down the heat." Adriana scolded, bustling back from one of her bathroom breaks. "Damn." She muttered, emptying the contents of various bottles and vials into the potion. It emitted a belching sound, and a puff of thick black smoke descended over the rim of the cauldron and onto the floor.

Potions was not my strong suit, but my ambition to be a doctor at Saint Mungo's required it. I coughed as the thick black smoke entered my lungs. But when the foul-smelling smoke finally disappeared, the potion underneath was a clear, gurgling lime color.

Adriana 'tsk'ed at me, and muttered, "If you wouldn't gawk at loverboy over there…"

"Hypocrite." I retorted, watching her eyes drift toward Louis. I swear she and Remus were in a conspiracy. More then once I caught both of them staring me, as if waiting for me to give away clue that I like Sirius. And now Lily has joined their team. She's still wondering whether it's Sirius or Remus. But they aren't going to learn anything from me. I don't think.

The next day was Saturday, October 14th; the first Hogsmede weekend of the year. I walked down the well-worn path, a chilly autumn breeze causing me to huddle into my cloak and tug my striped scarf tighter, both of which I did. Ignoring the cooing couple beside me, I basked in the brisk air and the bright leaves.

Upon reaching the small village, I beelined for The Three Broomsticks, leaving Adriana and Louis to their Madame Loveydovey whatever tea place. (Louis was the only guy I knew who would willingly set foot in that place.) It had been several months since I had last been in the loud inn, and nothing could have made me happier then a warm tankard of butterbeer.

I had wrapped my frigid fingers around a steaming tankard, when the chairs on either side of me were pulled out. I looked up to see Sirius, Remus, and Peter sitting down, each with their own butterbeers.

"Hello Olivia!" Peter chirped, plopping into his chair.

"Hey 'Liv." Sirius settled into his chair with a bit more grace.

"Afternoon Olivia." Remus took a hearty swig of butterbeer.

"Hey! I see you're feeling better, Remus." Although he was out of the hospital wing, he looked a bit grayer then usual; the bags under his eyes were more pronounced.

"Yeah. Just a head cold."

"Is James with Lily?" It was a given these days.

They nodded, each consumed in thoughts or drink. I gave up trying to make conversation, and sipped at my warm tankard, enjoying the warming sensation throughout my body. We sat in a comfortable silence, until I rose. "Well, I must be off. Honeydukes calls."

They nodded, getting up too. "James needs dungbombs." Sirius informed me.

I laughed, and headed for the door.

Sirius

I left not long after Olivia. I wasn't stalking her, I just wanted to get the dungbombs out of the way. Out of the inn, I turned, and headed for Zonko's, whistling some nameless tune. About to turn right, I heard Olivia's bright laughter, complete with the small snort at the end. I turned to see what was causing such mirth.

An old man sat on a bench, puffing out purple smoke rings and inhaling from a long brown pipe. He was looking down at his wrinkly, aged brown hound dog, and Olivia crouched over the mutt. She was scratching his fur, and smiling happily. The dog's droopy eyes were half-closed in ecstasy, and Oliva's long, dark fingers dug into the fur behind his ears. As they moved on to the dog's neck, my left leg twitched. The dog's own leg was shaking, like her was running, or scratching his belly himself.

As she moved back up to his ears, I shook my head, trying to banish thoughts of how those fingers would feel in my hair. I turned, heading for Zonko's, hands in my pockets to rid them of the Olivia-induced sweat, trying to get my heart rate down. It was as annoying as hell.

Author's Note: Yes it is short, and I'm sorry. I wanted to get this up as a thank-you to the two people who reveiwed! Thank you so much Paddie'sGirl and RockStar Lover!You made my day!

Also, just as a heads-up, I will be gone for the first eleven days of August, without any access to a computer at all. So, tothe three people who are keeping track of my updates, I'm very very sorry and I will try to get a few good chapters in before then. Thank you so much, and happy reading!