Everlasting ⁂ Harry Potter [1]

Chapter Seven

To Susan's relief, the three girls managed to find the Charms classroom with plenty of time to spare, Gwen's helpful instructions proving to be fairly easy to follow. It was quite full already by the time they got there, so to their dismay the three girls had to part ways as they occupied separate seats around the room. However, Olivia didn't mind her seat choice that much as she ended up sitting next to Hermione Granger. On the train, the brown haired girl seemed nice enough so she thought sitting next to her wouldn't be too bad.

"Hi, do you mind if I sit here?" She asked as she made her way over to the free seat. The sound of her voice made Hermione look up from the Charms textbook she had been reading through before the beginning of class.

"No, not at all." Hermione said with a welcoming smile as she noticed Olivia standing by the empty chair next to her. "Olivia right?" She asked, wanting to make sure she remembered the name correctly.

"Yes, and you're Hermione, I remember you from the train." Liv said with a happy smile as she pulled out the chair and set her supplies on the table. "Do you know what we'll be studying first?" Olivia asked curiously, pointing to the book spread open in front of Hermione. She too had read through many of the textbooks she had bought in Diagon Alley, but during the feast yesterday Cedric had mentioned that sometimes the Professors don't follow the order of lessons as they are represented in the books.

"I'm not sure, but whatever it is I can't wait to learn it. I already read through the whole book." Hermione said with a small tone of pride in her voice.

"Already? Bloody hell, what do you do for fun Hermione?" The boy sitting next to her, also sporting Gryffindor robes asked with a wide eyed look on his face, full of surprise as he overheard what she had said.

"Everyone has their interests, maybe she likes learning." Olivia quickly replied. She saw nothing wrong with the fact that Hermione had gone through her books already. She had too. Although, Liv suspected Hermione had gone through the textbooks with much more focus on detail.

"Learning is something you have to do, not want to do? Ravenclaws want to learn, not Gryffindors." The ginger haired boy commented, seeming to be completely confused by Hermione's wish to learn.

"I'm a Hufflepuff and I can't wait to learn everything I can about magic." Olivia pointed out.

"Did you already learn something from your parents? A girl I share a room with, Parvati, she already knows some spells her mum had taught her." Hermione spoke with interest, wanting to learn something else if she could.

"Oh no, my dad's a Muggle, as is my mum according to him." Liv explained openly. She remembered asking her dad whether her mum was a witch after Professor McGonagall's first visit, but according to him she wasn't a witch. They had gone to secondary school together, if she were one she would have been in Hogwarts when Olivia was born.

Olivia never really asked much about her mother. While other children would be curious, she didn't want to know about her. This was a woman that didn't want to know her, so why would she have an interest in her or her life. She had her family, and she was happy with it. Liv didn't need anyone else. Especially someone who didn't show any interest in her during all these years.

"You're a Muggle born? Me too." Hermione said with a tone of excitement as she gave Olivia a happy look. So far all the people she had interacted with, aside from Harry, had been born into families with at least one witch and had seen and even learned about magic before. So meeting someone like her made Hermione quite happy. "It's why I want to learn everything I can." She added, sending Ron a pointed look. Hermione's focus shifting back to him, made Liv realize she hadn't even introduced herself yet.

"My name's Olivia Hawthorne by the way, it's nice to meet you." She said and sent him a smile, using the introduction as a tool to shift his focus from possibly complaining about Hermione's studious nature again.

"Ron Weasley." He said with a happy grin on his face. "And in my spare time I like to play wizarding chess." He added on, sending a look towards Hermione.

"What's wizarding chess?" Liv asked curiously, not having heard of it yet.

"You don't know what wizarding chess is?!" Ron exclaimed in complete surprise. To him that seemed like the most preposterous thing ever. Liv shook her head shyly, beginning to question whether she should know. 

She assumed it was a variation of the Muggle chess game, but she didn't want to make assumptions which would make her seem uneducated or stupid. She wanted to make good first impressions. Ron opened his mouth as if he were about to say something else, but the sound of a door opening caught everyone's attention and made their eyes turn to the front of the room where Professor Flitwick climbed up to stand on top of a stack of books.

The Professor began to explain to the first years what being a student of his entailed and what they would be studying throughout their first year. He was also very adamant on mentioning to them that while it may be only the first year, some of the things they learn now would be on their exams. Exams which he had titled as O.W.L.s. Hermione was kind enough to explain to Liv what that meant upon seeing her confused expression. If Liv had to guess, she really never would have assumed Hermione to be a Muggle born. She knew everything she could by now, like she had grown up in a family of wizards.

For a moment, Olivia felt slightly self conscious about that, questioning whether she should have done the same. Maybe that's why people like the Malfoys believed those like her didn't deserve to go to school in Hogwarts, because they don't work enough to understand their world. Maybe she should've tried harder. However, Liv decided to dismiss those thoughts. That's why she was here, to learn all of these new and interesting things. Nobody could expect her to do it within a month, after all there are seven years of school. And she chose not to feel insecure about Hermione and instead embrace the intelligence this girl possessed and admire her for it.

The class passed by so quickly, that when they were dismissed by the Professor, Liv had to look around to check whether this was some kind of test or a joke. She couldn't believe that it was over so soon. But then again, her dad always reminded her how quickly time passes when you have fun. And she most definitely had fun.

"Olivia, if you like maybe we could study together sometime?" Hermione's voice caught her attention as she packed up her books and parchment. Her eyes moved to the girl standing from her chair beside her and Olivia gave her a big smile, quite happy with the idea.

"I'd like that very much." She said honestly, already looking forward to it. In Olivia's eyes, she had just made another friend, and she couldn't be more right about that.

Published: 04th July, 2020