The Worst Seat Finished

"Thank you." Maeve said graciously. She tried to ignore Olympia's next question.

Eventually, she gave in and answered. "Yes, I love it here." Maeve confessed. "Even though my sib-siblings are in a diff-different house, I've still made loads of new friends. It's nice to be away from home. My parents aren't typ-typically very friendly." She said quickly. Maeve smiled at the Hufflepuff. "How do you like it here?"

Maeve took the scales and quickly measured out the different ingredients for her potion. She finished and began to wait for it to brew. Maeve watched it carefully. Her father had given her a few tips for potion making, and she intended to use them to get an 'O'.

She glanced over and saw Olympia's potion turning a deep purple. "Olympia! You have to do a half-turn counterclockwise if it starts looking like that!" Maeve said frantically. She grabbed Olympia's ladle and did it quickly, watching as it started to turn the correct color. "There we go..." Maeve murmured, relieved.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry... " Maeve said quickly. "I sho-shouldn't have messed with your potion. My dad's a potions master... I didn't... Sorry..." She trailed off helplessly, feeling bad. "I really didn't mean to..." She mumbled, gently setting the ladle down.

Olympia leaned back in her seat, careful to keep all four legs on the ground. She didn't understand tipping in chairs, and the one time she'd tried it, she ended up breaking five fingers. But the people still did it around her anyways, even if she told them they were going to hurt themselves. She just didn't understand it.

"Thanks." Olympia grins, taking her ladle back from Maeve. She makes sure that she doesn't get any of the potion on her skin. It was her first time, after all, and she didn't know the effects of it until it was done. Olympia was in her own world, but was still aware of the things going on around her. She turns to Maeve.

"I love it here. I've got fi-" She stops herself, realizing only four of her siblings attend Hogwarts. Enoch was the only Muggle child in their family. "Four. I've got four siblings in the different houses. My sister Cordelia is in Ravenclaw. I have three sisters and a brother, so bear with me." Olympia grins as she continues.

"My sister Grisel is in Hufflepuff, which is nice, but I don't really see her around. Then my last sister, Ardelle, is in Gryffindor. Then there's my brother, Russ, is in Slytherin. I don't know if you've seen him around, but you'll know him when you see him. He looks a lot like me. But then there's Enoch, my twin, but he isn't a wizard."

Olympia's voice gets quiet when she talks about Enoch. She misses him more than ever, but she's happy with the friends she's made here. There was nothing they wouldn't do together, and now they're doing everything apart. "So, do you have any siblings here?"

Maeve smiled. "Yes, but they're in Ravenclaw. Maybe your sister Cordelia has seen them. I have two sib-siblings in fourth year, they're twins. Benjamin and Dahlia. They're fi-fight-fighting for best in their year. It's terrifying." She laughed softly. "Alexander is in seco-second year. He plays quid-quidditch. Kind of boring, but he's smart, I guess."

"That's so cool you have a twin! I'm always env-envious of Ben and Doll. They have a built-in best friend." Maeve said softly. "So, Enoch is a squi-squib, then? I'm sorry if I'm prying, you don't have to answer. It's just inter-interesting. My cousin, Gregor, is a squi-squib. He hates it."

Maeve glanced at her potion. It was still the right colour. "Oh, good. We're both right on track for getting an 'O'." She said brightly.

Their professor was walking around the room slowly, monitoring everyone's process. Maeve truly hoped that the professor didn't stop and comment on the strangeness of a Turner in Slytherin. She already knew she was the odd one out in her family. It had been pointed out enough by other professors.

"So, in your family, it's not strange to be in a diff-different house? I'm the first one in my family to ever be in Slytherin. Ever." Maeve murmured.

"It's not uncommon. Everyone in my family is divided in the different houses. But once you're here, you never really see anyone you know unless you make an arranged time. Or something." Olympia blushes, turning her head quickly back to her book. She always got too analytical with things, and then was told she was annoying. She seemed to drive people off with that.

"I wouldn't say he's a squib. He can do muggle magic tricks. Muggle magic can be quite spectacular sometimes." Olympia grins. Thank goodness she's straying from statistics and things. They were always a bore to other people, and whenever she tried to weave them into conversations, the others just left. Of course, she'd been being sarcastic when she said so. Muggle magic was nothing compared to what she was learning here.

"Are you close with any of your siblings?" Olympia takes her ladle, sitrring the potion once again, taking a mental note this time to make sure the color stays the same. A sigh of relief escapes her mouth when she sees no change in color in the liquid before her. "I guess I'm really only close to Enoch in my family, besides my father. But he isn't really home." Oh no. Olympia wuld aboslutely not be talking about her father before Maeve.

Maeve smiled at Olympia. "I'm not really close to any of my sib-siblings, actually. The only thing we have to do tog-toget-together is our mini-concerts for my parents' gatherings. Other than that, they try and igno-ignore me. I'm used to it. Sometimes they ask me to scrim-scrimmage with them so they can practice. I only do it to hang out with them. I really hate qui-quidditch." She said.

"My parents are a dif-different story. They don't really like me. It's the stutter. It annoys them. My father isn't around much either, he works at Saint Mungo's. He's their best potions mas-master." Maeve said. "Mother is... diff-difficult. She doesn't like my stutter to the point where I can hardly talk to her. It doesn't matter, though. I've got my crea-creatures to keep me busy." She shrugged.

Their potions were almost done, which meant class was almost done. Maeve was relieved. She didn't like potions at all. Her father had taught her so much, it was boring to her now.

"Do you want to do something toge-together later?" Maeve asked Olympia softly. She really liked this Hufflepuff girl. She was the first Hufflepuff Maeve had ever met, and definitely defied the stereotypes she had heard.

Olympia wasn't a big ditz, unlike what her siblings had said. Olympia was also interesting, not a bore like Alexander had said most Hufflepuffs are like. Maybe Olympia would be like the one good stereotype surrounding Hufflepuffs.

Maybe she would be a great friend.

Olympia was vaguely aware of the other girl that had shown up. She wasn't sure whether or not she was speaking to them, though, because there were multiple different groups close to them. She didn't want to embarrass herself by saying hello when the girl wasn't talking to them, so she continue her conversation with Maeve until she knew for sure.

"Oh, really? I haven't really got the best relationship with my mother. She has no reason to hate me... She just does. But my siblings and I are close. We've always held our own against her. Sometimes we feel like she didn't want to have us in the first place, and that she just kept making mistakes. But my father has told us different. He's the parent I'm closest to. We actually spend a lot of time together. My father works in the Ministry. He's in, I believe, Level four, which is the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He's actually just begun working there this week." Olympia grins, proud her father finally got a better job.

"My mother, though, works at the Leaky Cauldron as a waitress. She can't seem to find a better job. I've thought that maybe that was why she is cranky all the time, but I've never known for sure. I don't even think I need to go into detail about my siblings. I think you can figure that one out yourself." Thinking of her siblings made Olympia wish she could just dash out of class and visit them.

"My mum is grumpy nonstop too! I bet they'd be great friends!" Maeve laughed. "That is, if they weren't too busy jud-judging each other."

Maeve smiled brightly at Olympia. "I'm going to call you Olly. Less chance of a stutter as I say your name." She decided, grabbing the ladle to stir her potion again. Nicknames seemed like such a friend-y thing to do, but maybe Olympia would like it. She'd make a great friend.

The class was almost over, and Maeve was watching her potion intently. She didn't want to get this close to an 'O' only to lose it due to lost concentration.

"So, Olly, have you ever done potions bef-before Hogwarts?" Maeve asked curiously. She had brewed some simple potions personally, as her father wanted to train her to love potion-making from an early age. She didn't like it though, but she would never tell him that.

Maeve loved doing potions with her father because that was the only thing they did together. Since he was never home, Maeve took what she could get, even if it meant doing something she hated.

And yes, she hated potions, but she was really good at them. She had picked up a lot of tricks from her father over the years, so potions would be an easy class to pass.

"A little bit. Sometimes when my siblings would come home for the holidays, they'd show me a few things. They were always so sure I'd become a witch. I guess they were right." Olympia shrugged her shoulders, grinning. Remembering those times reminded her of some of the best times in her life. She wouldn't ever forget them.

"And I really love the nickname. It's unique." Olympia pauses, thinking of something else to say. "No one's ever called me that before. I like it." That grin is still there. She looks up, seeing that her potion is still the correct color. That's extremely relieving. She would hate to make a fool of herself and have to have Maeve fix it for her again. Potions were a lot harder than she'd thought.

"What about you? Well, wait, I guess you would have. You said your father works for a potions place, right? How could you have not practiced even a little bit before." Of course she would ask something like that. She'd expected it, and was surprised it hadn't happened earlier. She always got in trouble for stupid questions at home, but somehow she still managed to ask them. And of course, she'd forgotten the name of the place her father worked. Already. This was going to be a long year. Olympia releases a sigh, wondering when class is going to end.

"Yes, I have. All the time, act-actually." Maeve said softly. "I despise it, but my father likes it, so I guess that's alright. I'm good at it, though, with makes it somewhat bea-bearable..."

She smiled at Maeve's acceptance of the nickname. "I ave a friend named Ophe-Ophelia. I haven't gotten it out without a stutter yet." She giggled. "I just have no idea how to shorten that monstrosity."

There potions were almost done, which was a relief. Maeve hated waiting. She was the most impatient person in her house. She always ran about to get things done, and she had broken a fair amount of vases and other trinkets in her eleven years. It made her mother angry, which Maeve liked. It was funny when Valernia Turner was angry.

She would turn all red and count to ten, but that didn't calm her down, ever. Then, when that didn't work, Valernia would scowl and stomp and throw a huge fit. Maeve wouldn't laugh when she was around her mother, but the second she got away, she was all giggles. Benjamin also though it was funny, but he wasn't as good at hiding his laughter as Maeve was, but he didn't get punished. Apparently being the favorite had its perks.