Days turned into weeks which quickly evaporated to a month. They seemed to fly by without a single thought of hesitation and before the Hogwarts' students knew it…September came and went, within a blink of an eye. Olivia and Alyson were now relatively acquainted with the customs of the school. The two blended in (minus their accents) and had many new friends.
Alyson had rarely been spending time with her sister, seeing as she was always busy with her newfound friends. Everyone seemed to adore her and she simply couldn't get enough of it. Already she had boys chasing after to her each of which would make fools of themselves in the halls and during free periods. Alyson found it to be cute, where as Olivia felt apathy. Just like Home. She'd think- every time a boy made a fiasco and was then, rejected.
Olivia was able to make the Slytherin Quidditch team with ease. She was seeker to the dismay of a few seventh year boys who had hoped the 'new girl' would: 'Fall flat on her arse'. The captain, Leon Moeb, called it beginners luck. Sam reassured Olivia that she was great and that they were all just sour at being outdone by a girl. And an American at that. Despite all the luck that was beginning to shine through for Olivia, the fight she'd had with Sirius had left her in a very awkward and uncomfortable position during Charms. Olivia tried her hardest to never acknowledge his presence which became difficult when Professor Flitwick had partnered them together. Olivia bribed Jared Tussin saying she'd do his homework for two weeks if he'd switch partners with her. It worked and Olivia continued with her silence towards Sirius Black.
He had tried to apologize a few times which ended up usually, if not always, with him blowing up on her and making the situation worse. After three days in a row of scenes in the hall and in class they both just shared the silence, letting the tension between them grow stronger after every forty-five minutes of Charms.
It was one day during dinner after a long forty-five minutes with Mr. I-didn't-study-for-our-quiz-today-I-think-I'll-copy-off-Olivia when Olivia decided she would speak to Sirius Black just to watch him squirm.
Olivia sat next to Alyson who was rapidly repeating something over and over again off of a piece of parchment. Regulus had his nose buried in a book reading out loud a sentence every now and then.
Olivia cleared her throat. Alyson ignored her sister, still repeating, where as Regulus looked up acknowledging the older Pruitt sister's presence.
"I don't understand how you two are related." Without looking, Olivia pointed behind her. Sirius Black, who was standing by the entrance, was loudly shouting something that wasn't quite coherent.
Regulus shrugged. "That's a mystery to me as well."
She groaned in hunger. "I'm hungry but I'm not."
"You should eat. You're not going to do well at quidditch practice if you've got an empty stomach. You never seem to eat dinner."
"You sound like my mother."
Regulus shrugged and went back to reading his book. Alyson looked to her sister with hysteria all over her face.
"I. Have. A. Test." Alyson spoke, shushing her sister.
Olivia gave her sister a pat on the head, grabbed a piece of turkey from a platter, and got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Alyson called.
Her older sister shrugged, popping a piece of turkey in her mouth, hastily walking backwards. She wasn't actually watching where she was going and when she reached the doors to leave the Great Hall she abrasively collided with somebody she didn't see. Embarrassed -and possibly a little bruised- Olivia stood up and held out her hand to help up the person she'd bumped.
"I'm so sahh..-" She trailed off as Sirius Black rubbed his head trying to get to his feet. Her hand fell to her side. "Then again. No I'm not."
"Why didn't you watch where you were bloody going?!" His voice boomed challenging.
"Because I was walking backwards, genius."
He got to his feet and wiped his robes clean of the dust it had accumulated on the ground. "Ah.." He groaned.
Olivia pushed past Sirius strutting her fastest to get away from him, but before she got out of sight, Sirius caught her attention.
"Good luck tomorrow." He gave a sarcastic smirk.
She stopped dead in her tracks. Looking over her shoulder she replied: "Thanks. Just don't be too shocked when I kick Gryffindor's ass."
He scoffed. "Yea. Right."
"Oh, believe me, I can. And I intend too." Having said those words she went back to her quick strut heading for the doors that led outside to the grounds.
The sun beat down on the older Pruitt as she made her way outside, taking in the scent of the fresh grass that was beginning to grow. It was a perfect day to be outside. Olivia walked over to the edge of the lake absorbing her surroundings. People were laughing, studying or merely just sitting and watching the sky maybe hoping to find something in the clouds they were so intently watching. Olivia took a seat directly a large willow tree gently resting her back against the bark. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. The water splashed unevenly making Olivia's stomach tumble a bit. She was ready to lay down and take a nap when she heard footsteps coming up from behind her.
"Hey, there lazy-head." A very familiar voice called.
Lily Evans along with three other girls, two in Gryffindor, the other a Ravenclaw. They were now standing to the left of Olivia, blocking her direct sunlight.
"You're blocking my sun." Olivia smiled looking up at her.
"Sorry." The girls moved. Except one. "Olivia, this is Angelina, Mary, and Kat"
She motioned to each girl as she spoke. Angelina was a short dirty blonde with a striking pink stripe in her hair. She smiled and held out her hand to Olivia. Mary was an average looking brunette, smiling and waving to Olivia. Kat, the girl who didn't move, was too busy looking at something else, twirling absentmindedly a piece of her long auburn hair.
Olivia raised a brow in her direction.
She looked to Lily and then to all of the girls. "It's nice to meet you guys."
"Likewise." Angelina said.
Mary nodded. "Yes. Right, Katherine?"
Kat rolled her eyes in a bored manner. "Yea. Fantastic." She seemed to have spotted something or someone. "So yea, greattomeetyou. Bye." Her words tumbled over another as she quickly made her way over to a group of boys. At the head of them were Sirius and James, the other two of the marauders trailing closely behind.
"Eh." Olivia let the noise slip through her mouth. "You know I get the feeling she didn't like me."
Lily laughed. "I know. It's just she has horrible taste in boys. She's in love with Sirius Black…er, should I say lust. And, frankly seeing as your not his favorite person. You're not hers either."
"Didn't know I was so popular among you Gryffindor folk." Olivia joked.
Angelina made a noise. "Uh…ya. Them." She pointed to her blue and sliver tie.
"I don't know Sirius is kinda hot." Mary shrugged.
"Ugh. You sound like my sister." Olivia teased.
The girls watched as the boys were now chanting something. Olivia turned her attention toward the lake trying her hardest to drown out the noise.
"I wanted to wish you luck tomorrow on the match!" Lily said, having reminded herself why she had come over.
A quick feeling of suspicion overcame Olivia. "Have you been talking to Sirius?"
"What?"
"Nevermind." Olivia smiled. "Thanks. You won't be to bummed if I win it for Slytherin, will you?"
Lily guffawed. "No! That'll show, Potter, he's not so hot after all!"
The girls sat down around Olivia and started talking. Olivia forgot all about her quiet time. She liked having the girls around.
During potions when Olivia was watching attentively a swishing cauldron of a bright blue potion. A Ravenclaw prefect handed her a notice. It was from professor Flitwick saying to meet him as well as Dumbledore in the headmasters office after her potions class. Too transfixed on the note , the swishing potion began to sputter and splash. It finally gave one last manifestation and then turned to a mucky brown. Great. Olivia thought. What else could go wrong?
At the end of class Olivia nervously put all her books into her book bag and quickly made her way towards Dumbledore's office. The giant marble phoenix brought her face to face behind the wooden door, she gulped, grasped the handle, and opened the door. She noticed that inside was Professor Dumbldore, of course, sitting at his desk. Standing at an angle from the desk near the stairs was Professor Flitwick. And standing on the opposite side of the room was Sirius Black.
"Close the door behind you, Miss Pruitt." Dumbledore quietly spoke.
Olivia did as instructed and then stood next to Sirius. His eyes were scanning the walls trying not to make contact.
"Is something wrong?" Olivia asked, looking to both Professors.
"As a matter of fact there is!" Professor Flitwick piped. "Both your test score answers were exactly the same! How do you two explain that?"
Olivia looked to Sirius who shrugged. She shook her head in disbelief. So he was really cheating off of me! She thought turning her attention back to the Professors.
"I'm taking twenty points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor. Also I'm giving you both detention tomorrow." Professor Flitwick looked to Olivia. "I'm sorry Miss Pruitt but that means you're going to have to miss your match."
Her face went white. "Woah, woah. Wait a second! I have to miss my game, because he's a cheater?!" She pointed to Sirius.
"Now, now. The rules say that both students must be reprimanded." Dumbledore said absentmindedly.
I don't believe this. She thought gawking with her mouth open.
"You two are dismissed. Professor will see you both tomorrow at three o' clock sharp." Professor Dumbledore smiled and waved them out.
Outside Olivia pulled Sirius aside and pushed him up against the wall. He was a little thrown off and looked down at her.
"You did this on purpose! I know you did!" She spat.
Sirius sneered. "Oh did I? No, no I don't think so. You see I'm usually very good at not getting caught cheating. So in a sense yea it was my fault. But I didn't do it on purpose." He grabbed her wrists and removed her grasp from his robes.
"Ok like I'm really just supposed to believe that!"
Sirius sighed. "Yea."
Olivia clenched her fists and then crossed her arms. "You'd better hope we're not alone together."
"Why's that?"
"Because I swear I'll hex you." With that, Olivia stormed off towards her Common Room.
