Loverboy

"It was time for a change"

Peter sat in the compartment that he, Ollie, James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Marlene, Frank and Alice shared every year on the way to school. Usually, James would sit by the door, Sirius by the window, Frank and Alice next to Sirius, Marlene by the window on the other side, Ollie beside her, and Remus beside her. Peter often sat on the floor by the window or next to Remus.

But this year, he knew, would be slightly different. Ava would probably join them, as she and Marlene had been dating for months. Sirius and Ollie might not want to sit beside each other, since Peter had noticed that Sirius seemed tense after Ollie had spent the day with that other boy- Pierre, was it?

Not to mention the will-they-won't-they relationship they'd had going on the previous year. Peter hadn't said anything about the tensions he noticed, but Sirius had seemed more... Cautious. Careful, like he was watching his step a lot more. And it seemed to have started when Ollie and Victoria started spending time together.

Peter was worried for the future of their friendship. Sirius and Ollie were on thin ice, Remus seemed to be hiding something, James was actively trying to change himself, and Lily seemed to be hiding something as well. Marlene and Ava seemed to have no problems, but if one were to arise, that could spell disaster. Especially since all of them had really grown a liking for Ava when she and Sirius dated. Which was still weird to Peter, since they never even liked each other that much.

The door slid open, and James walked in with Ollie, carrying both of their trunks. "Hey, Pete. How was your break?" he asked, putting the trunks in the overhead bins and sitting down in his usual seat.

"It was good," Peter replied, his brow furrowing ever so slightly when Ollie sat next to James and leaned into his side. "How about for you guys?"

"It was alright," Ollie said. James nodded.

"And someone got a haircut," he pointed out, ruffling Ollie's now short hair. "It looks really pretty."

Ollie smiled. "You already said that, dumbass."

"I know, " James retorted, putting his arm around Ollie's shoulders with a grin. "It's still pretty, though."

"Yeah, it looks nice," Peter interjected, looking between the two of them.

"Aww, thanks, Pete," Ollie said.

Then, Sirius and Ava walked in, Marlene close behind them. Marlene sat by the window, Ava beside her, and Sirius on the other side. All of them mentioned Ollie's new hairstyle.

After about half an hour, Remus and Lily joined the rest of the group, as did Frank and Alice.

"Give anyone detention yet?" James asked, catching himself before making a snide remark about Snape.

"No," Lily replied from across from James. "How was your break, by the way?"

"It was good," James replied, Ollie nodding in agreement. "You're looking at the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain!"

"That's amazing!" Lily said, smiling at James. "I'm so proud!"

"Yeah, it really is amazing," Ollie agreed, looking up at the boy she was leaning against. "When will tryouts be for the new openings?"

"I'm thinking the end of September," James replied, pushing his glasses higher on his nose.

They were interrupted by a knock on the compartment door. "Bit early for the trolley witch, innit?" Peter remarked while Sirius rose to answer.

As he slid the door open, Sirius found himself face to face with a boy who was tall, young, and incredibly handsome. His black curls framed his freckle-adorned face elegantly as his piercing blue eyes darted around the cramped train compartment.

"Hi, is Olivia here?" he asked, a noticeable French accent in his smooth voice, just as Ollie shot out her seat.

"Pierre?" she exclaimed, running over to give him a tight hug. He returned it.

"You cut your hair," he said bluntly, gently brushing a few stray strands out of her face.

"Yeah," she replied. "I figured it was time for a change." She searched his eyes carefully.

Pierre's face broke into a smile. "I love it."

"Thank you," Ollie said, beaming. "It was nice seeing you again, Pierre."

"And I enjoyed seeing you again, Olivia-"

"Ollie."

"What?" Pierre said, stopping.

"Everyone calls me Ollie," she explained. "Unless you'd rather call me Olivia, of course."

"Oh, well," the boy resumed, "I hope to see you in the Great Hall, Ollie."

"And I hope to see you," Ollie replied, her smile softening.

Pierre smiled softly as well. "Goodbye, Ollie," he said, taking up her delicate hand and pressing a small kiss to her knuckles before stepping out of the compartment.

"Goodbye, Pierre," she said, watching him walk down the aisle before she slid the door shut and slumped back into her seat beside James.

Lily looked at Ollie with a sly smile on her face. "Who was that?" she asked, leaning forward.

"That was Pierre. I met him over the summer," Ollie replied, unable to force her smile to diminish.

"What was that accent?" Marlene asked.

"French," Ollie replied. "He grew up in the countryside."

"Wow," Lily replied. "And he's quite a looker."

"I know, right? And his voice- oh don't even get me started on his voice," Ollie said.

"Can we please talk about anything else?" James interjected. "Boy talk doesn't really interest me at the moment."

"Agreed," Sirius, Frank, and Peter chorused.

"Fine, then, what do you want to talk about?" Lily said, looking at James.

"I dunno, just not whatever his name is," James said, shrugging.

"Okay, then," Lily said slowly. "What classes did you guys sign up for?"

"Well, I'm doing Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Arithmancy," Ollie said. "You?"

"All the same as you, and Herbology and History of Magic," Lily replied.

"I'm doing Defense, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Herbology," James said.

"I'm just doing the big three that you need for Auror and Charms," Sirius said.

Remus put his book down. "I'm doing the same ones as Lily, just without Arithmancy."

And so they talked, about their classes, their summers, and any and everything to repel the eerie feeling creeping over the teenagers, until they pulled into Hogsmeade station and were carted off to the castle.

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983 words

Okay, wow. They're in their sixth year now. I'm going to try and speed up the plot now, since I don't want to have two hundred chapters by the end of this lmao. Anyway, there's a war brewing in the background, and they're all growing up so fast :,) Also next chapter is going to set up some VERY important groundwork for some plotlines later on in this stretch of story. When I go back and edit this later this year, I'll be changing the chapter names to either just numbers, or something other than a line of dialogue. lmk what you think I should do

Anyway happy slightly late new years! I was planning to update on Christmas but my inspiration comes and goes like the wind, so that didn't end up happening lol... Thanks for making it this far, Atlas <3