A/N Thank you to Son of Whitebeard for reviewing my OCs, I'm glad that you think they're interesting! Thanks also to Orangebunny14, marielinot07 and for following, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the previous ones. Special mention to Dorothy Nightingale for being so detailed with her reviews. You've been so helpful and it's so good to know what I'm doing right. Lots of love from me. She's also writing a wonderful story called Kim Infected right now - check that out!

JKR owns Hogwarts, though I'd like to say otherwise.

Olivia was floating along above the Quidditch pitches, soaring in-between the hoops, her hair fanned out behind her. She could feel strong arms on her shoulders, as if some otherworldly God was holding her upright. It was more turbulent now though, the hands moving her urgently as if she had some place to be-

'Liv? Have you slept here all night? It's ten to nine, you're going to be late!'

With a jolt, Olivia sat up, her back and neck sore from sleeping over the desk. Fred was shaking her awake, his arms on her shoulders. 'You're in yesterdays clothes, mate. Do you want me to tell Snape you're sick?'

'Shit…' she mumbled, getting to her feet. Her blonde hair was ratty and she could feel her clumped mascara sticking her eyes together. 'No. Look, I'll just come now, and I'll have a shower during lunch, will you wait one minute while I grab my books?' Fred rolled his eyes but obediently sat down in the common room.

'Don't take too long, I'd prefer it if Snape didn't have a reason to poison me.'

Olivia ran up the stairs and glanced in the mirror. She had been right about the mascara, which was partially smudged down her cheek. Her hair was not going to cooperate, clearly. Nothing could be done except spraying on some deodorant and rushing back down the stairs, potions books in hand. Together, her and Fred climbed out the portrait hole where George was waiting, and the three of them sprinted to the dungeons. Panting, but on time, they crashed through the door of the potions classroom and Olivia tried to ignore the snickers of a few Ravenclaw girls, each who looked as if they had walked out of a fashion magazine that morning. The twins headed straight to a free double seat at the back of the room and Olivia slid into the seat in front, next to a boy she didn't know.

Wait. She did know him. Rodger Davies sat next on her right, scratching at a mark on the desk with his quill absentmindedly. Through sheer luck, they had ended up right next to him, and had absolutely no plan. Swinging around in her seat, she made eye contact with the twins and mouthed 'It's Davies!' Both of them looked at one another and grinned. Before they could say anything else, Snape walked into the room and the chatter immediately died. He looked like he was in a foul mood for some reason, which was never a good sign. 'Swelling solutions. You may find the ingredients on page 37. I advise that if you wish to continue in my subject, you begin to apply yourself as I accept no less than O level students in my NEWT classes. How you do in this will give me a basis on what I can expect from you this year.' He swivelled around and pointed his wand at the blackboard, where the instructions on how to brew the potion appeared. 'Begin.'

The dungeons were always uncomfortably warm, but this was possibly the worse it had ever felt. Swelling solutions had to be brewed at a consistently high temperature and it meant that the whole room was swelteringly hot. Olivia was stirring her potion with extreme care, carefully counting the turns that she had done. As she moved onto the next instruction, she felt a poke from behind her. George was holding his hand out next to his cauldron, his eyes on Snape. In his hand was a small package wrapped with purple foil. It looked vaguely like a cough sweet. 'Take it, Liv. It's not for you,' he added, with a meaningful look. She didn't question him and slipped the sweet into her robes, and chancing a glance at Davies, she pretended to take a sweet from her pocket and eat it. As she carried on with her potion, she continued to take nothing from her pocket, place her hand to her mouth and swallow, making sure that Davies noticed and Snape did not. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she turned to Davies and, despite wanting to give him the filthiest look she could, gave him a wide smile and asked 'do you want a sweet?' He turned towards her with a slightly confused look on his face, before shrugging. 'Yeah, sure. Whatever.' Trying to keep a straight face, Olivia reached into her pocket and passed him the sweet, which he immediately unwrapped and put in his mouth. All was normal for around thirty seconds. Then, without warning, he started gagging, and what looked like a fat purple worm erupted from his mouth. The whole class started to panic, with cauldrons being knocked over and girls screaming, all whilst Davies choked and his tongue grew longer and longer. He lunged for Olivia and George seized her under the armpits, lifting her backwards over the desk and in-between himself and Fred. Snape meanwhile had rushed over to Davies and was shouting at him all while Fred shouted about how he must have tasted his swelling solution. 'All of you leave, I need to take this boy to the hospital wing. I expect a roll of parchment on the antidote and proper brewing of a swelling solution,' hissed Snape, and the students who hadn't already taken the opportunity to sneak out the room amidst the drama did so.

Still laughing hysterically, Fred, George and Olivia collapsed at the side of the corridor, shaking with mirth as they remembered the panic that had ensued. 'What was that?' asked Olivia, and the twins looked at each other, slightly more seriously. 'You really want to know?' said Fred.

'Obviously. Also, remind me never to eat anything you offer me.'

'I'm hurt,' said George, his hand over his heart. 'Okay. So it's clear me and Fred were never destined for a nice, quiet Ministry job.' Olivia snorted. 'Exactly. And we've been pondering about our future careers rather a lot. And one night, I had the brilliant idea-'

'Shut up George, it was me who thought of it-'

'Well whoever. We decided we're going to open a joke shop,' finished George triumphantly.

'And that-'

'Is our first real invention. A ton-tongue toffee. Patent pending.' Olivia looked from one to the other, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. Did they both really plan to open a joke shop?

'It's going to be called 'Weasley's Wacky Wonders,' said Fred proudly.

'We're still deciding on the name, actually,' interjected George.

'Well I think it's brilliant,' said Olivia, and she meant it. 'You could get a branch in Hogsmeade, and then we could work in the shops next to each other!'

'Yeah, and we'll share an apartment above them together, and get rich.' The three sat in content silence for a few moments, a shared dream for the future. Silence however rarely lasted around the Weasley twins, and almost as soon as it had started, Fred said 'Merlin, no noise makes me uncomfortable. Let's go, Liv needs a shower before she knocks someone out.'

'Hey!'

For the first time in her life, Olivia had managed to work two nights in a row. Fred and George had gaped at her when she sat down in the common room to work on Snape's essay promptly at seven that evening. 'You know, if we wanted to be best friends with Hermione Granger, we could be,' said George as he looked disbelievingly at his friend as she began to skim through books. 'Yes, and you'd hate it. I just want to do well this year. I mean, it's OWL year. Don't you?' she asked.

'Yes. But it's the second day of term! You're practically drowning in books as we speak!'

'Plus you slept down here last night. We're concerned for your health,' said Fred, though he could barely keep a straight face as he said it.

'How am I going to inevitably do all your boring taxes and sort out your business affairs when you inevitably forget if I am not educated?' said Olivia, turning over a page.

'Fine. But if I have to rescue you from being late again I'll have to start strapping an alarm clock to your face,' joked Fred. Lee Jordan shouted something, and George turned round.

'In a sec, Lee! You coming Fred? he asked his twin, but Fred waved his hand impatiently and George walked off to see his friend. 'Are you not going to see Lee?' said Olivia quizzically, stopping her reading to look up at Fred, who was scanning her face in the most serious way that he could. 'Look, I know I don't look my best but it's rude to stare.'

'I'm not staring!' he said indignantly, folding his arms. 'You just look different.'

'Different how?'

'Different… I don't know. Older?'

'Gee, thanks. That's always what a girl wants to hear.'

'Never mind,' said Fred quickly, and he stood up to go and join the others.

As time dragged on, and the common room emptied, Olivia found it more and more easy to concentrate. She was partially surprised that she was finding it so easy, as up until now it had been her life's mission to avoid doing any work whatsoever. The old grandfather clock was ticking quietly in the background, and she scribbled down the next paragraph of her essay.

'Hey.' Olivia looked up, and was met with the face of Marlo White. 'Can I sit?' he asked.

'Sure, sit down anywhere,' she said distractedly, her mind still on step six of the method.

'So, er, how's your day been?' asked the boy tentatively. Olivia looked up. Clearly, he was now trying to behave more warmly than he had been yesterday. With a sigh, she put down her quill. 'It's been pretty good, actually. Potions was something of a fun time and Snape simply had to ruin it all by giving us an essay.'

'Snape's never been one to really go easy on students though is he?' said Marlo.

'No, I guess not,' Olivia admitted. It was really quite nice, she thought, sitting here with Marlo. It wasn't as if he was a creep, or so fantastically good looking or popular that she felt uncomfortable. It was rather like sitting with someone in a waiting room, where you're both content to keep to yourselves and smile politely. In a way, perhaps it was a blessing that Marlo didn't appear to be much of an extrovert.

Friendships are not always easy things. It can be awkward and tense to begin with, when two people try and test the waters around one another to establish a tentative relationship. Other feelings can always interfere, or life creates barriers that cause it to break down. However, it is often simple gestures that cause friendships to truly begin. When Olivia woke at around six when a confused looking first year had bumped into the table after trying to get a glass of water, she realised she had once again fallen asleep on the table. Marlo was gone. What he had left behind, was a full set of notes and an essay plan for swelling solutions. At the bottom, he had written 'Hope it helps.' Olivia smiled.

A/N So, Marlo and Olivia are slowly becoming friends. He's just very shy it seems!

Katie didn't seem to make it into this chapter, but no fear she'll be in the next one. See you next time guys!