The rest of November was not worth noticing, unless of course, you were Oliver Tray, who did quite a bit of noticing. Also, Rose, who noticed Oliver noticing.

He was beginning to be a bit of a stalker, honestly.

He would follow her out of the great hall after breakfast first thing every morning, trailing the six of them as they walked to Transfiguration, although he was meant to be in Arithmacy clear on the other side of the school.

His tracking would stop afterwards, only to pick up at random times during the day, as though to see that every part of her schedule was clear of suspicion.

And Rose wasn't the only one to know about it. It was the main topic of interest for the entire gang. It constantly worried James, but barely plagued Sirius.

"Don't you think that we should do something?" James had asked, a few days in.

Peter had agreed.

"Yeah, we could tell McGonagall-"

"Absolutely not. If he thinks that we know he's doing it, he'll just get sneakier, and it will be that much harder to track him," Rose had interrupted. "If worse comes to worst, I'll wipe his memory, or give him a false lead. We'll be fine. Just don't talk about anything sensitive outside of the common room. And be careful even then. He could have a Gryffindor spy." Peter paled at the thought and looked around at the fellow Gryffindors at the breakfast table.

Rose realized that she was the most commonly targeted one among them for a reason. He had seen her often leaving from the out-of-order bathroom where she had been keeping their Felix Felicis potion brewing.

A week passed.

The liquid luck would be done brewing by the full moon in two months, she knew, and she had wanted to check on it. She very skillfully lost Oliver through several secret passages before coming to the lavatory, to find that the potion was in perfect order.

She put a lid on the cauldron, planning to remove it that night, and quickly cast a spell to hide the pot of bronzing liquid from anyone who was looking for it. She walked out of the lavatory humming.

Directly into Oliver Tray.

"What the hell are you doing here! Lurking outside the girl's toilets! You have no business-"

He seemed a bit flustered at first, but quickly regained his ground.

"Nor do you! This bathroom is out of service! I've asked..."

Rose did some quick thinking, and quickly did a spell to loosen her tie and undo the first few buttons of her blazer, while he was ranting.

"...And, I'll have you know that you are not the only prefect in our year. Not to mention, Remus Lupin is gone again. He went to the infirmary two days ago and he wasn't even sick! He's not there anymore, either. Where did he go? I know that you know!"

Rose paused for a moment to let him finish, then did her best to look startlingly saddened, along with surprised and flustered.

"His gran just died, Oliver. He had to go to the funeral. Shame on you for going off on some conspiracy!" Oliver did not look put out in the least.

"That doesn't explain what's going on with you and the Marauders! You're up to something! I have evidence!"

Rose stared him down, but made a show of fixing the buttons on her blouse, while attempting to seem inconspicuous.

His eyes widened in realization.

"Oliver, are you really going to make me come out and say it? My business is my own. Please stop snooping around in the girl's lavatories, or I'm going to report you."

"You and Black? That's what all of this secrecy is about?"

"And here you thought we were smuggling dragon eggs into the country, didn't you? How adorable," she smirked.

"I didn't- I mean, obviously, no, you weren't sneaking dragon eggs, but I figured that-"

"What, Oliver? I'm sixteen, not a dark warlock. How much trouble can I have gotten into? You're a Ravenclaw for Merlin's sake! Use your head. I may be snogging Sirius in dark corners, but I'm not mixing polyjuice potion."

She turned away and began walking back up towards Gryffindor tower.

Polyjuice potion may be a good idea though, she thought. May have to try that next.

She stopped midway down the hall and turned around, adjusting her tie.

"And Oliver, please stop following my friends and me around. One of these days, I'm going to have no choice but to sic James and Sirius after you."

He was left watching her go. When he was sure that there was no chance of her doubling back, he locked himself in the lavatory, and wasted a good half hour searching for something that he was totally incapable of finding.

Satisfied in the end that she had been (at least partially) telling the truth, he decided to re-evaluate his mental state, as it was frighteningly likely that the stress of the upcoming exams had begun to get to him at last.

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Although Oliver might not be cannon from the books, he certainly is fun to write! Thanks for reading and reviewing! Don't let the muggles get you down!

post edit: i really love this chapter. Idk why exactly but i do. Thanks for readimg amd reviewing, even through this state of madness!