Disclaimer: All ideas are based on characters and events belonging to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing.

Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 5: Summer Plans

On Thursday afternoon, most of the Gryffindor population was crammed in the common room. Olivia and Kiley were sitting in the far corner, curled up in a couple of over sized armchairs, discussing their upcoming summer plans. Olivia scratched her head in thought, "As far as I know, my parents haven't planned much for us this summer. I guess just hang out with James, play some quidditch, and such."

"My parents want me to go with them to visit my aunt and uncle in Germany this summer."

Olivia jerked her head up from the book she had been flipping through. "But you'll still get to come over a while before next term, right?"

Kiley laughed at her friend's expression, "Of course. You know I'm not going to let you have all the fun."

"Mind if I join you?" The girls looked up simultaneously to see Remus standing just a little ways off looking a little pale.

"Sure, Remus. Where's the other hooligans?"

Remus chuckled at the friendly name calling, "Well. At this moment in time, I'm not really sure." He pulled a seat over from another area of the room to join the two girls and as he plopped down in it they realized just how tired he looked.

Olivia knew what was wrong, the full moon was getting closer. She wasn't stupid, she knew that Remus was a werewolf. He didn't know she knew of course but she had been able to put two and two together back in her second year. She hadn't told anybody, not even Kiley. She figured he would tell her when he was ready.

Kiley, being in the dark on the situation, looked at Remus with concern. "Are you ok, Remus?"

He was spared from answering as James, Sirius, and Peter came through the portrait hole and walked over to join the others. "So what're you guys talking about?"

It took a second for Olivia to remember what they actually were talking about before Remus joined them. "We were discussing summer plans."

James looked at the others, "So what do you guys have planned so far?"

Peter was the first to pipe up, "I think my family is going to spend quite a bit of the summer at a beach in Italy."

"Wow, Pete. Thats pretty cool."

"Yea, you'll meet lots of Italian girls."

They all laughed and Peter seemed pleased with his friends' reactions. Remus thought for a few minutes, "I'll probably just take the time to spend with my parents. We rarely spend long times away from home. What about you, Padfoot?"

Sirius, who hadn't spoken since the subject was brought up, looked slightly pale. "I don't know. I've been sentenced to a summer at Grimmauld after what happened last summer." The previous summer, Sirius' parents had arranged a huge ball and invited all the pureblood families. Sirius had been expected to uphold his family image which he faled at dramatically after he was provoked into a fight with some Russian wizard. He hadn't been allowed out of his room for the remaining week of vacation and apparently his parents were still upset with their eldest son.

They all remained quiet, nobody really knowing what to say. They all knew Sirius had a bad home life but he wouldn't talk details. James knew more than anybody else but it was still very little. Sirius always put on a front, but they knew it was a lot worse than he wanted them to think. Wanting to put the spotlight on someone else, he turned to James, "What about you? Any big plans for the summer?"

James looked at Olivia who shook her head. "Nope."

They were all laughing at James direct answer when Scarlett, who had previously been sitting around the fire with a couple other girls from her dorm, appeared beside them. She cleared her throat to get their attention, "Sirius, could I have a word with you, please?"

Sirius looked at James, slightly baffled. What, was she going to get him alone and chew him out over his manners again? "Umm, yea. I guess." He stood up and waited for her to lead him away from his friends, out the portrait hole, and to an abandoned classroom not too far from Gryffindor tower.

Sirius walked in and sat down on top of one of the many desks that had been left forgotten while Scarlett just stood there awkwardly. "Soooo, what can I do for you? Or did you just lead me down here to hex me or something?"

"Look, Sirius. I've been thinking about what happened the other day. Thinking about what Olivia Potter said and everything. And well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. It really wasn't fair for me to say those things about you when I don't really know you."

Well then. That wasn't what he had been expecting.

They arrived back in the Common Room shortly afterward and each went back to their respective friends. Sirius found everybody pretty much exactly as he had left them. Peter was the first to speak up as he sat in the floor, leaned back against Olivia's chair, "Well? What was that about?"

Sirius still looked kind of stunned. "Well, Pete. I have a date to the last Hogsmeade trip."

"What? No way! She was disgusted with you a few days ago and now your dating?" James laughed. His best friend seemed to have all the luck with girls. "Why can't that happen with me and Evans?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd day we're dating but we had a nice little chat and we think it'd be worth a go at a relationship. You know, spend some time getting to know each other."

Olivia didn't understand why but this conversation was making her uncomfortable and decided to try and change the subject. "So James, whats our chances of winning the Quidditch Cup this year?"

Ah, the word quidditch. It worked miracles. Mention it and James was off in dreamland. He, the captain of the Gryffindor team, took the subject very seriously. Sirius laughed, "Livey, you've unleashed a monster."

James was going on and on and on about the upcoming finals against Ravenclaw. Olivia couldn't hold it against him. She, herself, loved the sport but wasn't quite confident enough to try out for the house team. She thought maybe the next year she would, but she had been saying that every year since her second.

Remus sighed and looked out the window. It was getting late and he still had an essay to finish, that seemed like a good reason to get away from James' droning. He made his excuses and stood to leave. Kiley elbowed him as he was getting up and mouthed 'liar'. He simply winked at her and started toward the library.

Eventually, they were able to wind James down enough that they all made their way to their dorm rooms and their nice, warm beds for the night.

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The next day, the sun was shining down bright upon Olivia and Lucius, who were sitting under a large tree near the lake. She was sitting with her back against his chest, her head on his shoulder and he had his arms wrapped tightly around her. She closed her eyes and sighed, "I'm going to miss this."

Lucius looked down at her. "What do you mean, love?"

"This is your last year at Hogwarts. The last year we can be like this."

"Yes, but theres so much ahead. Of course, you'll come visit me this summer, correct?"

"You know I will." Lucius chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "It'll be so different without you here, though. So lonely."

Lucius thought carefully about what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it before he opened his mouth. "I'm sure you'll have pleanty of people to keep you company. I've noticed you and Black have been spending quite a bit of time together."

Olivia looked back at him confused. "What're you talking about?"

"Sitting together at meals, nice chats, walks by the lake.."

Realization dawned on Olivia. Lucius saw a lot more into her and Sirius' improving friendship than they did. "Lucius, me and Sirius are only friends. He's good company, someone to talk to."

"Can't you talk to Kiley? I thought she was your best friend."

"She is, but people can have more than one friend, Lucius."

Lucius grunted a response and she supposed that meant he would drop the subject, for the time being at least. He leaned back against the tree they were sitting under, pulling her back with him. "Do you have any plans after supper?"

"I was just planning on finishing my charms essay for tomorrow, why do you ask?"

"I just thought maybe we could have some...alone time."

Olivia laughed, "We are alone, silly."

Lucius leaned his head back, "What I guess I should have said was, I thought maybe we could have some private time."

"Oh." Olivia thought about her options. She knew what Lucius had in mind and she knew she wasn't ready. Finally, she agreed, thinking she would be able to appease him with a good snog session. "Where'd you have in mind?"

"An abandoned classroom in the dungeons. It's kind of chilly but nobody goes down there."

"Ok, I'll meet you after supper?"

Lucius stood up, realizing that their break periods were almost over and they each needed to get to their respective classes. He held out his hands for Olivia to take and pulled her up and into a hug, her head hitting him in the chest. She looked up and their lips met briefly before they started toward the castle.

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Author's Note: Please review and let me know what you think. Always - PJ