Apparently, Marcus Flint had had done some heinous doing that mortally offended Filch, and the twins had been blamed. This much, Clara and I figured out through George's explanation that carried enough profanity to shame the most ghetto muggle rap star. When she asked George what the "heinous doing" had been, he refused to tell us. As did Fred, upon our further begging.

"It was that horrible," he told us ominously.

"We'll have to get back at him," George added, sounding as if it were only an afterthought.

"And of course, you'll have to help," continued Fred.

I looked over at Clara, who was beginning to sport a maniac grin similar to those she wore when staying up too late and Mr. Nooma-Nooma was coming to get her.

"Of course we will," I agreed.

"Thank you for following my instructions," Professor Snape said to Clara and I, while aiming his last few words at a chatty pair of Slytherin girls I didn't know. They had not worked alone, which had been evident when both their potions had made the exact same mistake. I was proud that ours had turned out perfectly well. Though, so had almost everyone else's in the class.

We left the classroom in fairly high spirits, slightly ecstatic for proving ourselves able to not screw up in possibly our hardest class. George jauntily scrambled to be standing in front of Clara, and once he was, he bowed down on one knee and asked if he could treat her to dinner.

She smiled, giggling like any teenage girl in her right mind, in that situation, with that particular freckled boy, would. Percy walked by, and I caught him rolling his eyes before he hurried on to the Great Hall. Rather than say something, I filed it in the back of my brain to forget about until the time came to remember. Instead, I looked around until I found Oliver, and at which point I approached him as he walked with Alicia Spinnet.

"Um, Oliver?" I questioned.

He looked at me. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to thank you for giving us that, um, small bit of information during class. We wouldn't have been able to manage that potion without--"

He interrupted me. "It was no problem, really."

I could feel myself blushing, and decided to make a run for it. "Oh. Well thanks." I then proceeded to walk quickly towards the Great Hall, in hopes that Clara and the twins would already be arrived.

I forced my eyes away from Oliver's ass. oh but it was so tempting...

"Um... but you're holding the bowl," I protested.

Clara scopped some of the pebbly stuff into the bowl. I smiled. We returned to our seats.

"That was nice of him," she prompted me.

"Oh, I suppose. What's the next ingredient?"

Clara sighed. I was not cooperating with making my Oliver Wood prospects brighter. "We have to liquify the pollen before we add anything else."

I nodded, putting the little bowl with the pollen in it over our fire, making sure that the fire was very, very low. This would make it liquidy, but not like melted crayons. In the process, I saw George wave at us from his seat near Fred and Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Oliver. The Gryffindor Quidditch team. I waved back to George, and, seeing this, Fred thought I was waving to him and waved back. I laughed.

"What?" asked Clara, who was rereading the instructions to be sure we followed them closely and correctly.

"Ah, nothing." Fred had stopped waving and was whispering something to George. I looked down at the bowl. "The pollen is ready."

"We've only one class left before dinner," I told Clara as we took a short break in our dormitory. "And that's Potions."

She grinned at me. "After last night, I'm sure that Snape'll be thrilled to see us."

True, I had to laugh with her.

"So you and Oliver Wood... how's that going?" she prompted me.

"Eh... I'm not too sure he remembers I exist?" I said, unsure of how to respond.

"Oh, you mean he remembers moreso that Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson exist?" she asked, knowing exactly what had been on my mind.

I looked down at my green All-Stars, shrugging innocently, though obviously pleading guilty.

A sigh escaped her lips, and I didn't blame her. "Listen, Lauren. Don't worry about it. We're at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Fred Weasley, Gryffindor Beater and adorable guy with freckles hangs on your every word! You're about to go to Potions class. Not depressing English with Simone and Ben, but Potions with the Weasley twins and Percy! Smile!"

I did, but the main reason being that she'd thrown in Percy's name. This I failed to mention to her, but rather brought up the subject of Ben, having been suddenly reminded of my dilemma back home in the muggle world and the United States at LBJ. "What d'you think my mom told him?"

Her face fell. Clara had obviously not been trying to make me think about Ben. She opened her mouth to dredge up something positive to say, hunted from the most creative depths of her imagination, but then the door knocked.

"Are ya comin' to see Snapey-Snape or not? Let's get on with it!" George's voice floated into the room.

She smiled; saved. I forced the same expression, willing myself to think about Ben later. Now I had to go impress the only teacher I cared about impressing in order to fairly learn the subject I was most interested in learning. Damnit and yay at the same time.

It was kind of funny how I'd forgotten things that I would have been so keen on finding out once the fifth Harry Potter book came out. For instance, who the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was. It wasn't Clara or myself who brought up the topic.

"I wonder who our teacher will be this year?" It was George.

Fred laughed. "Don't think Snape finally got it? Then Lauren could be studious about Potions in peace."

"It could always be worse," Percy scolded, rolling his eyes at Clara as if to say 'they are soooooooo immature.'

* * * * *

It was not Snape. Indeed, it was not Snape. Rather, it was a man who was quite tall with dark brown hair that he was wearing rather shaggy. He was dressed in black robes, just like the rest of us, and a smile took over his face when we entered the room. I got the impression that he was one who would like to feel like "one of the guys."

"Hello, and you must be... ah yes, 5th year Gryffindors," he greeted us. His voice was nice enough. I wasn't afraid, anyway. He continued, either not hearing, or disregarding, Percy's 'yes, sir.'

"I'm Professor Revelle. Obviously, I'm new here, and so I have absolutely no idea who any of you are. Well," his look wandered over to the Weasley twins, "with the exception of those I have been informed of."

This brought a smile to Fred's face, I noticed. I could tell he liked being in the spotlight.

"At any rate, I would think it best for you to choose some random seats, as I highly doubt it would be vital for me to assign you to certain desks, am I right?"

At this, we scrambled for chairs, and I ended up between Fred and Percy, who was next to Clara and George. On the other side of Fred was Oliver, but next to him was a girl I decided was Alicia Spinnet.

"He seems nice enough," I heard Clara say quietly to Percy. I watched Percy nod, and then turned my head to pay attention to Professor Reville as he called role. When he reached the end of the list, Clara and I still had yet to be called. I was about to raise my hand in question, when he said, "Would Clara McClenon and Lauren Rosales please step up to my desk? The rest of you may become aquainted with your textbooks, or each other, until further notice." Fred shrugged at me, and Clara hustled me up to the front. She looked just as confused as I.

"Don't look so incredibly frightened, girls. I'm not calling you up here because you are in some sort of trouble. I just thought I would let you know that Professor Dumbledore has informed me of the circumstances of your arrival, and that if you need anything, ever, that my office is always open to the two of you, together or seperate." We nodded. I wasn't quite sure what was behind that statement, but it didn't sound as blunt as it was most likely meant to.

"You may also tell your friends, those Weasley twins, not to be horribly afraid of causing any minor mischief in my classroom. I promise you, I'm hardly a teacher, and hardly in bad enough sport to punish them beyond what is essential." He winked at us, and then sent us back to our seats.

Clara raised an eyebrow at me. I mirrored her face, and we shrugged at each other before sitting down once again. Fred looked at me expectantly for an explanation, a summary of some sort, but I wasn't given a chance to cure his curiosity before Professor Reville stood at the front of the class and announced that we were to take a short, but extremely boring, bout of notes on dementors. It seemed a strange topic to me, one that was quite random, but I scribbled my quill across the paper like all the rest.

We received our schedules, and the first class was Muggle Studies. I could have laughed. I would have, too, except that Clara and Percy were discussing the post office and I felt left out.

"Oh, smile, Lauren. Geez, tired of this place already?" Fred shoved me slighly as we entered the classroom.

I grinned meekly, embarassed that even at the school I'd forever dreamed of attending (I would have settled for existing), I found the time to be bitter about Clara and her unintentional ways of attracting boys. "Never!" I exclaimed, and fwapped him upside the head with my wand, hoping his hair wouldn't accidentally catch on fire or something of the sort.

"Percy and Clara seem to be getting on quite well," he said, reverting back to normal seriousness.

Oh great. Was this his idea of cheering me up? "Oh yes, they certainly do," I agreed. Sighing, I ended the discussion of that by asking him what time lunch was at.

"Are you nervous about starting fifth year classes?" Percy inquired of Clara as she buttered her toast.

She stopped for a moment, looking him over, as if she wasn't sure that she could trust him with the information. But soon enough, Clara opened her mouth and answered, "Yes, actually."

I was struck by her confident tone, like it should be surprising for her to be nervous. Percy took this in stride and smiled. "I would be nervous, too. But don't fret, I'm sure everyone will be very glad to help you out."

On my right, I heard George whisper to himself, "Especially you, Percy, especially you." Did I catch a hint of bitterness? Surely Clara hadn't, she couldn't have, already become the object of so many male human beings' affection? Could; no, had she?

Suddenly it occured to me that someone was talking to me; who? I blinked myself out of my thoughts to register that Hermione was asking me what class I predicted I would find the most interesting. Smiling, I answered, "Definitely Potions." The area around me got quiet at this pronouncement.

"Potions?" echoed Ron.

I nodded.

"Too bad you're in Gryffindor," said Fred wryly.

I shrugged it off. I knew all about Snape, of course, from the books. It didn't phase me. Potions had always interested me ever since I'd thought about them, and perhaps if I was good at them, Snape wouldn't have too much against me.

"Especially since you'll be playing Quidditch." Whoa- what? Attention, Lauren, Gorgeous Quidditch Keeper #21 is speaking to you! My head whirled around to look at Oliver Wood.

"I... suppose so," I stammered uncertainly. So much for the confident approach.

"So what do you think of the place?" Oliver questioned, gesturing around him.

I smiled. This was something I could be truthful about. "I can't decribe it," I said, "but I can say that there's a special feeling that comes with this, 'place,' as you called it. It feels like things happened, are happening, are going to happen. Just sitting at this table makes me feel like I'm involved and a part of somthing. I don't know."

He nodded, and for a moment I was afraid I'd given too much information. But then, realizing that Oliver Wood wasn't all that was going to be lovely about Hogwarts, I decided that if I had, screw it. That was me.

Usually, on the first day of school, I would be too excited to be drowsy. And although this was wizard school, that one thing remained the same. Clara had shaken me awake, and I seriously hadn't been too reluctant to get up. It was amazing.

"I took the liberty of fishing through your trunk to find your robes, books, bookbag, and your wand," she said once I had sat up.

And so she had. Brand new black robes were lying on a chair by the window, and a brown, sort of worn, messenger bag was on top of them. It looked as though it were already full of books.

"Here," she handed me my wand. I looked down at it and ran my fingers over it several times. It was official. I was a wizard.

******

"Hey, hey! Lauren, Clara!" We turned around, looking to see who was calling our names. Harry and Ron were sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, waving us over.

"You have any better ideas?" I asked Clara, in response to her 'do we have to?' look.

She shrugged, and then off we went to join the younger Hogwarts students. I was about to sit down, when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I looked up.

"Oh, hey, Oliver." I tried very, very, VERY hard not to sound too excited.

"Heya Lauren. This is Percy," he motioned to the redhead standing next to him.

I nodded to acknowledge him. Must have looked pretty funny; I was half sitting, half standing, eyes wide open. Clara grabbed my arm and sat me down.

"Pull up a chair," she offered Percy and Oliver the seats next to her, as she forced Ron to scoot down.

"Sure," Oliver agreed, and suddenly I was eating breakfast with someone I had only dreamed and read about.