Disclaimer: All ideas are based on characters and events belonging to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing.
Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 2: Hogsmeade
The rest of the week leading up to Hogsmeade passed slowly. Olivia was so excited for her day with Lucius that she could barely pay attention in her classes. She was so preoccupied in Care of Magical Creatures that her niffler got away from her and attacked a Hufflepuff witch that was a little too fond of rings. That earned her a detention for the following Monday night.
"Even if it did land you in detention, that was hilarious! Did you see the look on her face?" Kiley then proceeded to imitate the unfortunate Hufflepuff as she and Olivia made their way back to the castle. Olivia paused as she observed her best friend's mockery before they both were bent double laughing.
"What's so funny? We wanna laugh too." The girls turned to see the fifth year Gryffindor boys also making their way back to the castle but from Herbology.
"Olivia set her niffler on poor Brooklyn McDonald."
Sirius faked an appalled face. "Olivia! Terrorizing poor innocent Hufflepuffs!"
"Oh, what will we do with you, Sis?" James grinned as he slung his arm around Olivia's shoulders. "When's detention?"
Olivia pushed James' arm off and stuck her tongue out at him. "I didn't do it on purpose."
"Sure you didn't, Livey."
"I thought you were on my side, Remus!"
Remus laughed at the bemused witch. "I would be. If I didn't know that Brooklyn Mcdonald just so happens to be the only person who is beating you in Charms and that its killing you."
Olivia gave her best friend, other than Kiley, a light shove as they continued to make their way up the sloping hills and back to the warm castle. When they entered the common room Kiley decided to watch Olivia play a round of Exploding Snap with Peter while James, Sirius, and Remus took seats by the fire. "So, Livey, are you guys going to join us in Hogsmeade Sunday?" Olivia, who was laughing at Peter's now singed eyebrows, stopped short and suddenly found the design on the floor rug extremely interesting. "We figured we could go by Zonko's and Honeydukes, then swing by the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer."
Olivia took a deep breath trying to prepare herself for the explosion she saw coming. "Actually, James, Lucius asked me to accompany him this weekend."
Everybody was silent, each waiting for someone else to break the silence. James was so frustrated he didn't even know what to say. Finally, it was Remus who was brave enough to speak, though his voice was strained. "That's great, Livey. What are you two going to get into?"
"I don't see what's so bloody great about it."
Ignoring James, Olivia threw a thankful look and a small smile toward Remus. "I'm not really sure yet. He said he wanted to surprise me."
There was another small space of silence as everybody was lost in their own thoughts. "Be careful, Livey."
"Sirius, there is no need for me to 'be careful' with Lucius. He's very sweet and I trust him."
"You trust him? How long have you even known him? He's a bloody git, Olivia!"
"I don't know him? You're the one that doesn't know him, Sirius! For your information, we've been seeing each other for months secretely! The only reason I said anything now is because I thought you guys could handle it but apparently I got you confused with a bunch of immature first years!"
Kiley stood up and grabbed Olivia's arm, pulling her up to their dormitory.
"Sorry, but if I left you there any longer you would've all said things you'd regret."
"UGH. They are so frustrating. It's bad enough that James is being a git about it but Sirius too? At least Remus tries to be civil about the topic." Olivia kept ranting to her best friend as she paced back and forth in front of her bed. " I just don't know what to do Kiley. James will never accept Lucius."
Kiley looked at her dejected friend trying to think of a way to cheer her up. She knew, of course, that Olivia was right. James, and all the Marauders for that matter, hated Slytherins but Lucius was one at the very top of the list. Enstead of lying to her and telling her that everything would work out, when in fact she wasn't sure if it ever would or not, she decided a change of subject was in order. "So, what're you going to wear this weekend?"
A sudden look of horror crossed Olivia's face. "Oh Merln. I've no idea." Olivia ran to her trunk and proceeded to pull out multiple outfits, looking for something that would be appropriate for her date with Lucius. Kiley looked on with amusement. That had worked a lot better than she had expected it to.
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After the confrontation in the common room, the topic of Hogsmeade, and Lucius, had been avoided when in mixed company. Kiley and Olivia discussed it at every oppurtunity while James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter ranted and raved about it every chance they got but never when their groups were together.
After what Olivia felt was forever, Sunday finally rolled around. She got up and, after waking Kiley up and trying not to wake her other roommates, took a shower and dressed for the day. While she was making last minute decisions on her outfit, Kiley got ready for the day and they proceeded to breakfast together.
Though her and Lucius had been seeing each other for quite some time in private, she was nervous for their first public date. They were comfortable together while alone but she was afraid it would be harder to relate under the scrutiny of everyone's eyes. Her worries seemed to be in vain though as her and Lucius fell into a comfortable conversation about Potions as they headed toward Hogsmeade village.
Lucius put a casual arm around Olivia's shoulders, quite aware of the death glares he was receiving from the fifth year Gryffindor boys. "I'm sorry, Lucius. They weren't exactly pleased when I told them about us."
He gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "It's fine love. There's nothing they can do to ruin our day."
Olivia smiled at the reassurance but wasn't convinced. She knew what the Marauders were capable of better than anybody. She also knew that if any of them tried to mess her date up she was going to hex them into next year. She had been waiting on this day for what seemed like forever. Her and Lucius going public was like a dream come true.
She'd had a crush on Lucius since the first time she met him in the library. He sat down beside her, noticing her frustration with her Potions essay, and offered to help. Just like that. She thought at first he was hiding something. that maybe he wanted to win her trust to get closer to James but as the weeks went by and their meetings became more and more frequent she just never could get him off her mind. They became closer and closer until Lucius asked her to officially be his girlfriend about a month prior. They had both agreed to keep it secret except for two people, Kiley and Goyle, another seventh year Syltherin and one of Lucius' friends.
Since that moment, Olivia hadn't let the relationship go near as far as Lucius had wanted it to. The most that had been done was some heavy snogging but Olivia told him she wanted to take it slow and he had respected that.
He bent and kissed the top of her head as they entered the small village below the school grounds. She looked up at him with a mischievous grin, "So, what's my surprise?".
He chuckled at her excited expression. He took his hand from around her shoulders, gently took her hand, and started leading her through the village toward their destination.
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"Ow, James! Your standing on me!" Sirius tried his best to pry his foot out from under his best friend and fellow Marauder's foot without attracting any attention.
"Shhh. Be quiet, Padfoot, I'm trying to hear what they're saying."
"Well, if you'd get off my foot, maybe I would be quiet." James, not really paying Sirius any attention, moved his own foot off his friend's. With relief, Sirius then grabbed James' arm. "Come on, we can hear a lot better if we can get closer."
The two companions, under the disguise of James' invisibilty cloak, followed Lucius and Olivia through Hogsmeade. They stayed as quiet as they could. If Olivia discovered them, she'd never forgive them. "He needs to get his bloody hands off my sister."
"He's just holding her hand, Prongs. It's not like they're shagging in the middle of the street. Ow!" Sirius proceeded to rub his arm where James' fist had just made contact.
"Never put images like that in my head again."
"Sheesh. I was just saying it could be a lot worse than them just holding ha..." Sirius stopped short as James rounded on him.
"Look Padfoot, that's my baby sister. I don't want anybody touching her, let along a bloody Slytherin like Malfoy. Now, either help me watch them or go join Moony and Wormtail at Honeydukes."
"Right. Sorry, Prongs. Which way did they go?"
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Olivia laughed as Lucius stood behind her and wrapped her scarf around her eyes. "Is this necessary?" Lucius put his hands on her shoulds and guided her the rest of the way through the village to a little shop toward the edge of Hogsmeade.
"It is. Don't worry, I won't lead you into a pole or anything." Olivia gave a nervous chuckle. "Just wait until you see what I've had set up for us." Lucius held the door open for them to walk into a small shop. She could feel her robes brushing against tables and other customers as Lucius led her toward the back. After she bumped into what seemed like the twentieth customer Lucius finally stopped her. "Are you ready?"
She nodded her head yes and he reached around her to remove the scarf. It was quickly obvious they were at Madame Puddifoot's. In the far back corner of the room there was a table highly decorated, even more so than the other tables in the shop, that had a banner across it with the words 'Lucius and Olivia' in sparkly letters that danced back and forth. It was the corniest and most ghastly thing she had seen in her entire life.
She tried to hide her shock at the 'surprise' as she turned to Lucius. "Wow, Lucius. Its really pretty."
Lucius stared at her for a few seconds. "Pretty? That's it? Olivia, I spent hours fixing this. All for you, and all you can say is its pretty?"
Olivia took a step back, the look in Lucius' eyes slightly frightening her. "You misunderstood Lucius. I think it's amazing that you would go through all this trouble for me." She reached out and hesitantly took his arm. "Now come on, let's have some tea."
Lucius seemed to visibly relax and Olivia let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding as they sat down to tea together.
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Author's Note: Please review and let me know what you think. -PJ