Like every other Wednesday of her fifth year, Ollie was walking to Potions. She was arm-in-arm with Marlene, Josephine and Ava walking alongside them.
Ollie and Ava were talking, which was rather unusual, especially since Ollie hadn't really taken a liking to the girl. But, she decided to swallow her pride, her feelings for Sirius, and that irritating knot at the back of her throat.
"So... Do you have any idea how Sirius fell head over heels for you?" Ollie asked.
Ava laughed. It was rich, like caramel, but at the same time, like a bark. "Sirius Orion Black, head over heels in love with me? He hardly ever shuts up about you," she declared.
Ollie couldn't help but smile at that. "I wouldn't believe it. He's always talking about 'Oh, Ava drew me in that cool jacket Peter got me' or 'Ava made this really cool painting of the two of us.'"
"Really? He's always going on about, 'Ollie let me braid her hair today, I learned how to do a Dutch braid last weekend,' and 'Ollie's eyes are so pretty' and 'Ollie is a really good dancer.'"
Ollie's face broke out in a grin. "I'm a terrible dancer," she replied.
Ava laughed again. "If Sirius says it, I'll believe it. You're probably the best dancer Hogwarts has ever seen."
Ollie laughed now. Who could've guessed she and Ava would get on so well? "He's simply exaggerating. Although, he's not the most graceful, either, so maybe he's going based off his own skill."
Ava began to laugh so hard, her eyes began to water. "That was out-of-pocket."
Ollie snorted. "But not wrong."
"We'll just have to wait and see about that," Ava said through her laughter.
"I've known the boy since he was eleven," Ollie replied. "At two in the morning, sometimes I'd be down in our common room and he'd just, like, show up, and he'd sing, like, I dunno, a Beatles song, and we'd dance around. I think one of my toes has been permanently made smaller than it would be naturally from Sirius's pitiful dancing."
As the two of them entered the classroom, Ava had a great burst of laughter, causing all the heads already there to turn and look at her.
There was Sirius, James, Remus and Peter at one table, Lily and Mary at another. Valerie was sitting at a table with greasy-haired, hook-nosed Severus Snape, another Slytherin in their year. Four other Slytherin boys- one was skinny and had brown flops of hair, one was large and blond, one was average build, with platinum blond hair and a deep tan, and the last was small and had jet-black curls- were sitting together. Three of those boys kept stealing glances at Valerie, but the platinum blond one kept smacking them in the backs of their heads for staring at his sister.
Two more Slytherin girls were off to the side at another table, looking unpleasant and broody. Ava and Ollie made their over to Snape and Valerie. Josephine and Marlene went to sit with the other Gryffindor girls. Slughorn stood at the board scribbling instructions on the board.
"Hello class, today we will be learning about the Alihotsy Draught. Does anyone know what this potion does?" Professor Slughorn opened the class. Lily's hand shot up, as was expected, but Snape, by Ollie, beat her to it.
"It causes the victim to laugh hysterically, making it difficult to breathe or stay calm. The main ingredient is the leaves of the Alihotsy plant, and while it seems like it'd simply be a prank, many people have died from taking the potion, due to the difficulty it causes with breathing, or due to allergies to the plant," he said quietly; loudly enough for the three girls around him to hear, but not enough for anyone else in the cold room to.
Slughorn allowed Lily to answer to the class, receiving a response of, "The Alihotsy Draught (the key ingredient being the leaves of the Alihotsy plant) causes the drinker to laugh hysterically."
Slughorn clapped a little, announcing, "Five points to Gryffindor for the correct answer! Five more for that extra detail about the plant." Lily smiled slightly, glancing at Snape.
That class was spent discussing methods of brewing and uses for the Alihotsy Draught. Lily answered a lot of the questions for the benefit of the class, but Snape knew the answer to all of them. He'd mutter them under his breath everytime.
Something clicked for Ollie. Lily was good at Potions- she was just gifted in that field. But her natural skill, combined with her friendship with Snape and her confidence had fooled everyone, including Ollie.
Lily wasn't actually that gifted in Potions. She was good, yes, and she understood all of it, and learned quickly, but the prefect wasn't really the best student in that class.
Snape was.
The nasty, brooding, greasy-haired, hook-nosed, slimy git was the most talented Potions student.
Ollie knew she should be horrified. She knew that if James ever knew how Lily was so advanced in Potions, he would be more upset with Snape's existence than he already was.
Slughorn dismissed the class early, but asked Ollie to stay after for a moment. Remus waited for her outside.
"Miss Sato, you seemed... troubled. Are you alright?" the professor asked her.
Ollie looked up. "Yes, sir. I'm fine," she replied, her words doing that oh-so-convenient speeding up and slowing down in arbitrary places when she was telling an adult something wasn't entirely true.
"Are you sure?" Slughorn pressed on. "You know, you're one of my favorite students. I just wanted to check up on you."
"Really, Professor, I'm alright. I appreciate it, though," she insisted.
"If you say so," Slughorn replied. "You know, I have a little... club, if you will. Elite students."
"The Slug Club," Ollie said, showing that she knew exactly what Slughorn was referring to.
"Er, yes. Would you be interested in perhaps joining?"
Ollie didn't know how to react. Lily was invited in the beginning of her fourth year, as was the case with Alice and even Ollie's sister, Echo, was accepted in her fourth year.
"Um... Sure. That sounds cool," she decided. Slughorn grinned.
"Our next meeting is next Friday. Well, I'm sure you've something to be off to. I'll see you next week, Miss Sato," he said.
"Yeah... See you, Professor."
Ollie walked out into the hallway where James had Sirius pinned against the wall, Remus on the other wall watching with silent laughter, while Peter hovered nervously, not knowing what to do.
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Let's see what Ollie does with her boys 🙄 lol we stan valeries brother being protective