A/N Anything you recognise belongs to JKR.

Thank you to SlytherinTiger and dhamann7878 for following my story! You rule.

Sunshine pushed its way through the thick, scarlet curtains of the girls dorm. The room had a soft, red glow and the only sounds came from the deep breathing of the four residents of the dorm. One of its residents however, was not asleep. Katie Bell was standing in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy from the bad sleep and her tears from the night before, and as she counted her breaths ('in for four, hold for two, out for six') she tried to stop herself from crying again. An alarm buzzed in the next room and someone groaned, hitting it to stop the noise. Katie approached the door and peeked around it, trying to avoid being spotted.

However, Katie had the misfortune of making direct eye contact with Olivia, who was the one who had shut off the alarm. Instantly, Katie slammed the door shut and Olivia wrenched herself out of bed and rushed to the door.

'Katie?' Olivia knocked on the door. 'Katie?'

'Leave me alone.'

'No.' The door to the bathroom edged open, and a red, swollen face appeared in the gap.

'I look disgusting.' Olivia pulled open the door.

'No you don't. You feel shitty and you are taking it out on yourself when it's Davies fault and not yours.' At the mention of Rodger Davies, Katie exploded into fresh tears and threw herself at Olivia. 'He's such an asshole! I was on the train and I actually felt okay after his stupid break up letter he sent last week and then we bumped into each other and he just sneered at me and walked off with some girl. It's been a week and he's already going after other people - should I be going after other people?'

'Only if you want to.'

'I don't want to!'

'Then come on, lovely.' Olivia pulled her into the bathroom and turned on the shower. 'Have a shower, and I'll wait and we'll go down to breakfast together. Okay?' Katie sniffed and then smiled.

'I'm sorry Liv. I feel like such a twat.'

'Well you aren't.' She span Katie round to face the mirror. 'Look! Gorgeous Katie Bell, Gryffindor star Chaser and top of her classes.' Olivia pretended to do a double take and Katie laughed. 'She's… Crying? Ladies and gentlemen, we have an issue on our hands, and it must. Be. Resolved.' Katie shoved Olivia, still laughing, and gave her a quick hug.

'Okay, I won't be long in here, I just need to have a shower and not feel totally gross. Be out in fifteen minutes?'

'No problemo captain,' her friend answered and did a mock salute. Olivia walked out of the bathroom and smiled at a waking Alicia. 'You alright?'

'Knackered.' She yawned and slipped her feet into fluffy slippers. 'Who's in the bathroom?'

'Katie. She'll be like fifteen minutes.' Alicia rolled her eyes and pulled her auburn hair out of the plait she had slept with. She glanced across to Angelina, who was still sleeping soundly.

'Should we wake her?' asked Alicia cautiously. Olivia snorted.

'I'd rather you than me,' she answered, throwing her quilt over the bed and beginning to change into her uniform.

'No need,' came the muffled voice of Angelina, who groaned and stretched her neck as she awoke. 'Alicia, you know much better than to wake me up.'

'Nope, everyone else knows better. I however, have best friend privileges,' she said chirpily and sat herself on Angelina's bed despite her protests. Despite Olivia having shared a dorm with the two girls for the last five years, the three hadn't ever truly bonded. Katie however was a year younger, and Olivia had felt a need to act the older sister (even if that didn't always mean the responsible older sister.)

Olivia spotted the twins a mile away in the great hall, where Fred was using pieces of toast to build a card tower and George was attempting to knock it down. She threw herself down in the seat next to George and smiled. 'Good morning!'

'And good morning to you. How you doing Katie?' asked George, as Katie tried to slip into the seat next to Olivia unnoticed.

'I'm fine,' she replied shortly. Fred threw her a piece of toast from his tower which she caught deftly, not even looking up from her plate.

'Good to know you can still catch, Oliver will be pleased,' said Fred.

'When actually is the first Quidditch match?' enquired Olivia as she buttered her own toast.

'Some time in October. I can't wait to flatten Slytherin, Harry Potter might be a liability to himself but he is a fantastic seeker,' admitted George. He took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Olivia. 'Sorry Katie, I didn't get yours but look - fifth year schedules!' Olivia quickly unfolded it and scanned the table.

'Ugh, we still don't get any study periods shared with the fourth years!'

'Really?' asked Katie, peering over her shoulder. 'What a pain in the ass.'

'But look!' said Fred, grinning. He pointed to a column on the table. 'This morning we've got Charms with the Hufflepuffs, then Divination with Slytherin and frees all afternoon! We have a ridiculous amount of time to do absolutely nothing. Up for a trip to the kitchens, Liv?'

'Oh Merlin, yes. There's never a bad time to see the house elves, they're absolute sweethearts.'

'You have an obsession with house elves,' said Fred.

'It's not an obsession!' answered Olivia in a shrill voice. The twins looked at her, wearing identical smirks. 'Shut it, Weasleys.'

'But we didn't say-'

'Your faces did!'

'Do you three ever shut up? mumbled Katie, rolling her eyes.

'Apologies, Bell. When there's someone to be wound up as easily as Liv, it's only natural one should take advantage,' said Fred, who winked at Olivia. Suddenly,it felt as if Olivia's head was filled with cotton wool, and she couldn't think of anything to say. Fred was staring at her, confused, and George had turned round to wave his hands in her face.

'Earth to Liv? You in there?' She shook her head and stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over a jug of pumpkin juice in the process. Katie was looking from Fred to George to Olivia, as if she was watching a muggle tennis match. 'See you in Charms' she said very quickly, and then rushed from the table, leaving her friends be-hind. As she ran from the great hall, she concentrated for the first time in her life on the lesson she was about to go to. Olivia thought of anything, of messing with Rodger Davies, of Honeydukes, of Snape's greasy hair. In fact, she put her mind to anything that wasn't what she had just felt when Fred had winked at her. After all, he was just being Fred. Her best friend Fred. Definitely nothing-more-than-that Fred.

Oh, shit.

Professor Flitwick was never late. It was one of the things he prided himself on, particularly because it meant that he could be prepared for when the first student arrived in his class. So, it was a first for him in over fifteen years to be beaten to his own lesson by a student. Olivia Flume was sitting in the front bench, her books out and quill poised, looking decidedly pale. Flitwick gave her a look of great surprise, before saying 'Miss Flume, have we had a change of heart as to how we regard lessons? May I say, just in time for your OWLs, perhaps?'
'Er. Yes. I mean, better late than never?' Flitwick smiled and made his way to the tall pile of books on which he stood. He had precisely seventeen minutes before the lesson started, and was going to use them wisely. Looking at the list of names in front of him, he formed a pattern in his head and tapped the piece of paper with his wand. Names flew about the paper until they were in pairs, forming a neat line. He noticed that despite his thoughts, the names Fred and George Weasley remained stuck together. Internally, Flitwick wondered if they ever separated, before tapping the paper rather sternly and forcing the names to spread apart.

Olivia watched the class fill up, desk by desk. She didn't know many of the Hufflepuffs except by face, so she prayed that another Gryffindor would turn up and sit next to her. Then, she heard the loud laughter of the twins and what was probably Lee Jordan come from the doorway, and she forced herself not to turn round. However, despite her prayers, Lee fell into the seat next to her, and two taps on either shoulder confirmed that Fred and George were directly behind her. However, Flitwick was smiling to himself as he teetered about on top of the books, levitating in the air. 'Now, don't get too comfortable everyone! This is your OWL year, and it's about time some of you started taking lessons seriously.' His eyes stopped for a moment on the twins. 'So, in order to make things a little easier for both you and I - I have made a seating plan!' Loud groans echoed around the airy room, with shouts of 'Sir, that's not fair!'
'Hush! Now, you'll find that your names will appear on a desk. Do not attempt to move them, I have a master copy here myself.' As Olivia looked down at her seat, her name flashed in silver letters infront of her. Evidently, she didn't need to move. Lee however let out an exasperated sigh, and went to find another seat. 'Fantastic, I'll be staying here then,' came Fred's voice from behind her. George grumbled as he moved his things to the left, to be met with a nervous looking Hufflepuff girl with long, dishwater blonde hair. 'Right, guess I'm with you.' Olivia looked to her right and squinted at the letters written on the desk. 'Di-gg-ory.'

'That's me,' came a low voice. Olivia looked up, and was met with a tall, rather muscular boy who looked older than what he probably was. He sat himself down next to Olivia, and gave her a fairly genuine smile. 'I'm Cedric.' He held out his hand, and Olivia took it.

'I'm Olivia Flume. Most people just call me Liv, though.' He shook her hand, and a slight look of recognition formed on his face.

'I know you, you hang around with the Weasley twins!'

'Yeah, I do-'

'She does. Right here!' Fred had put his hand on her shoulder and was giving Diggory a large, and very fake smile. Diggory gave him a rather confused look, and smiled weakly. 'Good to know, mate.' Olivia cursed the Weasley house pride in her head, turning to face Flitwick and ignore the tension that was growing by the minute. 'Today, we will be attempting a basic silencing charm! They are of utmost importance, and there is an extremely high chance they will appear in your exam. Now, take it in turns with your partner to use the wand in this motion' - Flitwick made a slight poke with his wand - 'and utter the incantation 'Silencio! Do not aim at anything but the ravens and or toads in front of you. It will cause both me and Miss Pomfrey a lot of grievance.' The tiny teacher pointed his wand at a box and made it levitate, decanting animals on each desk.
'Shall I go first?' asked Diggory.

'Uh, sure, go ahead,' replied Olivia. She had a strong suspicion that he would be far better than her.

'Silencio!' he said, wand pointed at the toad. It admittedly wasn't silent, but a good deal quieter than before.

'Nice one,' said Olivia, smiling.

'It's not that hard, see? My Dad taught me how to do it over the summer.' There was no trace of arrogance in his voice, but rather a slight tinge of embarrassment, as if he wished he had been worse.

'Wow, maybe you should try it on yourself Diggory, do us all a favour.' Olivia's head snapped round and stared at Fred, who was looking at him with a cruel smile. 'Fred, don't be a dick,' said Angelina soothingly, who was sitting beside him. Diggory however hadn't even turned round, and stared at his toad, no trace of anger on his face.

As soon as Flitwick let the class out, Olivia had ran to catch up with Fred, who had left immediately with George and Angelina, talking and flirting loudly. She caught Fred by the arm, apologised to Angelina and pulled him aside in the corridor, George waiting patiently. 'What the hell was that?'

'What the hell was what?' he said nonchalantly.

'All the stuff with Diggory. I know you aren't one to open your arms to other houses but come on, he wasn't even bragging!'

'He's an idiot. He goes on his looks to get him through life. You two have nothing in common, tell me you weren't annoyed by him?'

'Not really!'

'Do you fancy him?' asked Fred suddenly.

'Oh come on, when have I ever fancied anyone?' It was true. Olivia never had a particular interest in anyone. She pushed the thoughts she had had at breakfast out of her head, and stared up at Fred determinedly. His face softened and he spun her round, his arm around her shoulder.
'True, Liv. What chance would he have with you!' Fred let out a large guffaw of laughter and checked his timetable. 'Hm. Divination. George?'

'No, I don't think so, twin.' Olivia laughed, and the three strolled down the charms corridor, headed to the kitchens.

A/N Hope you enjoyed the second chapter!

I am looking for an editor/proofreader so please let me know if you would be available to help me out. Thank you and see you next chapter…