Oliver and Jemima walked under the umbrella right to the steps of the castle where Oliver flicked his wand once again making it disappear.
Fred clapped a large hand on Jem's shoulder, making her jump, "Ready for the most amazing food you'll ever eat?"
Jem laughed, "Uh, I think I can handle that." Flanked by the twins and Oliver in toe behind her, all four made their way into the great hall.
Jem gaped at the magnificence of the hall; the long wooden tables and the candles floating in mid-air. She looked over at Oliver, he was smiling at her.
She had to admit, Oliver had a certain something about him; he was tall, muscular – sure he was handsome – but there was something else.
Jem shook her head, pull it together, you've seen boys before, she thought to herself.
"Wait," he said walking closer to her, smiling wider, "It gets better." he grabbed her chin gently and nudged her sight up towards the ceiling, "The greatest part of the Great Hall."
After making herself focus less on the incredibly close proximity of her and Oliver, she saw it. The ceiling was enchanted.
"Oh Merlin," she sighed, "it's beautiful." she couldn't keep her eyes off it, the clouds were parting and the sun was setting.
"Yeah," Oliver whispered, "it is."
They stood in silence for a moment, neither moving but both feeling slightly awkward. George knocked the two of them aside as he went to sit at the table covered in scarlet and gold. Jem blushed as they too walked over to the table. Sitting next to each other was probably not the best idea in hindsight as Oliver spent the whole evening jumping every time her leg accidentally hit his, and vice versa.
When they had all eaten as much roasted meats, vegetables and deserts as they could, they began the journey to Gryffindor Tower. Arriving at the Fat Lady portrait, they were once again greeted by Professor McGonagall.
"Good evening Professor," Jemima greeted.
"Good evening," McGonagall nodded, "I came to welcome you to Gryffindor's common room and show you to your room. Follow me," she turned to the portrait, "Doned Elit."
The Fat Lady nodded and swung her portrait open, allowing them all inside. Jem once again marvelled at the beauty of her new common room; the red couches were lovely and the fires were lit at a lovely 'toasty warm' calibre.
McGonagall sighed impatiently, "Now Miss Gorman," she said turning to Jemima, "There is unfortunately no room in the dormitories for another person, it seems the sorting hat has put one too many first year that expected in our house, so Angelina's bed has been taken by a fifth year." Jem looked confused, "No need for that face Miss Gorman," McGonagall waved her wand and a small six-foot tall and about three-foot deep shabby wooden box, "It looks small, but you'll find it has a rather large inside. There is a bed, bathroom and wardrobe for you. You'll also find your luggage has been moved to the end of your bed."
Jem smiled, "Thanks Professor it looks wonderful."
Professor McGonagall nodded another curt nod and headed towards the portrait to leave. Before exiting, she turned around and added, "Oh, and you'll find it is completely impossible to have any male guests enter your room, just like the female dormitories." she turned and exited the common room, leaving a few stray Gryffindors who had yet to go to bed.
George snickered, muttering something under his breath and flicking his wand, "Ol' McGonagall thinks we haven't learnt ourselves a little something during the holidays?"
Fred grinned along with him as George opened the door to Jem's box-room, the twins linked arms and took a joint step into the threshold. There was a sudden reverberating bang as the twins were thrown backwards, landing on a well-placed couch on the other side of the room. Jem and the few remaining Gryffindors [including Oliver and Ron, the twin's younger brother who'd introduced himself and his two best friends, Harry and Hermione, at dinner] burst into laughter at the sight of the twins, both of whom were currently covered in long ginger hair. The hair was at least 12 inches in length and it covered them from head to toe, reminding Jemina of the muggle television character Cousin It, from the Aadam's Family.
"So maybe you didn't learn as much as you thought you had?" asked Oliver, standing next to Jemima and chuckling, "Go to Madam Pomfrey, I'm sure she'll have a solution." as the twins dejectedly walked towards the door Oliver added, "Take the long way, if McGonagall catches you two looking like that, she'll ban you from Quidditch practice for the month."
As the laughter was settling down, Jemima made her way over to a couch with the most amount of cushions and flopped over it, sighing with content. Oliver followed suit, flopping on the couch opposite, sighing dramatically.
Jem giggled, "That was an awfully heavy sigh for a man as carefree as yourself." she shifted in the couch, making herself sink deeper into the fluffy cushions, "Tell me, Oliver," she drew out his name, making him shiver, "What are you thinking?"
Oliver though for a moment, then smiled, "I was thinking it's kind of hard to understand your accent sometimes. You tend to speak really quickly and I have no idea what you're saying."
Jem threw a pillow at him, "Hard to understand me? This coming from Mr Ireland. I barely know what you're saying a majority of the time."
Oliver threw the pillow back, "IRELAND?" he cried indignantly, "You think I'm Irish? Oh my – Iri – I – I think that's the worst thing anyone has ever said to me. Ever." he hissed the last word for the effect. Then quickly added, "In case you couldn't tell from my exasperation, I'm Scottish."
Jem laughed again, "There's a difference?" she teased.
Oliver huffed, "You're insane. You've clearly not called a Scott one of those... those... Leprechauns before, have you?" he said quickly, inching closer to the edge of the couch he was on. Jemima smiled an evil grin, daring him to do retaliate.
"I'm sorry?" she asked, still smiling, "I didn't understand any of that. Could you repeat it?"
Oliver launched himself at her, making her squeal, hitting her with the golden pillow in his hand, "Understand me now?" he yelled every time he whacked her with a golden pillow only to whack her harder when she yelled "What?"
Their pillow fight continued for another few minutes until Jemima squealed, "Truce! Truce!"
Oliver laughed, "Fine, fine!" throwing the pillow back on his original couch and sitting down next to her.
The two sat in silence for a while, occasionally laughing. Jem started to yawn and Oliver looked at her, "Bed time for Jemima?" she yawned again, "definitely bed time for Jemima."
Jem yawned a third time, "I think so. Stupid jet lag, I haven't slept in an entire 32 hours." as she went to move to the her box-room that the boys had relocated to in between the two dormitory stair cases and ended up tripping on a rogue golden pillow. She let out a small squeak as she fell, reaching out to grab Oliver to steady herself.
Unfortunately, Oliver wasn't ready to stop Jem from falling and as she ended up on the ground, he ended up on her, knocking the wind out of her. Jem gasped for air, as their eyes met. There was silence for a moment then Oliver began lowering his face to hers, but as his lips were about to touch hers, the portrait creaked open. Oliver jumped to his feet and watched the Weasleys return from the infirmary, their bodies de-haired and looking as mischievous as usual.
Fred cocked an eyebrow, "Why's Jem on the floor?" he asked as they made their way over to the other two.
"I tripped on the stupid pillow," she answered as George held out a hand to help her up, "I was about to go to bed," she rushed, "goodnight." she clambered over the rest of the pillows on her way to her box-room and slammed the door behind her.
"Girls," Fred and George sighed together, "What's her problem?" added George.
"No idea." Answered Oliver, blushing slightly. He made his way up the stairs, taking one last glance at Jem's box before heading to his room.