Olivier-Land

On the outskirts of a small, quiet town in Southeast England, is a large house that is half hidden by trees, due to the strange goings-on that occur there. These strange goings-on are usually spearheaded by the youngest daughter of the family- Natalie. The house is surrounded by a large lawn, beyond which lies a forest


The two second years shot through the fireplace and landed in the library of Natalie's house. Natalie brushed the soot off herself, and then Landon, then took his hand again. She took him down to the kitchen, shouting for her parents. "Maman! Papa! Viens ici! I have someone for you to meet."

Her parents soon joined them in the kitchen. "Landon, this is my mom and my dad. Maman, Papa, this is Landon," she said with a grin, glad that her parents were getting to meet him.

(You can GM my parents, Landon. )

Natalie looked between her parents and Landon as he introduced himself. She was about to say something to break the silence when her older sister came down the stairs. "Is that Natalie I hear?"

Her sister came into view. She looked just like Natalie but several years older. She was out of school already, and she worked in Paris but she was taking a few weeks off to be with her family. Her sister quickly spotted Landon. "Oh, Natalie, is this the boy that you told me you-" Natalie cut her off with a warning glare. "Went into that corridor with at your school?" she saved.

Natalie hoped that Landon hadn't seen the look she shot at her sister. "Gabrielle, this is my best friend, Landon. Landon, this is my sister, Gabrielle," Natalie said. She hoped her sister wouldn't do anything to embarrass her.

Gabrielle came forward and kissed Landon on each of his cheeks. "It is nice to meet you, Landon. Natalie has told me so much about you in her letters," the older girl winked.

Natalie glanced at Landon and saw him blush, which made her do the same. Leave it to Gabrielle to act like that. She was just glad that Landon didn't falter in his etiquette. If her parents hadn't noticed something was up yet, they would soon, if Natalie and Landon stuck around much longer.

"We're going to go play in the forest," she said quickly, grabbing Landon by the wrist and tugging him out of the house and away from her family, waiting until they were out of sight to slip her hand down into his. "Sorry about that," she said. "I forgot that Gabi was going to be here. I sort of wrote her letters while I was at Hogwarts, and I may have mentioned you in a few of them..."

It was actually more like she'd written pages and pages of how cute and nice and funny he was, and about all the fun things they did together, and at least a full novel about their kiss, but Landon didn't need to know that.

"Let's just hope that Gabi keeps her mouth shut, otherwise Maman will hug you and never let you go and Papa will take you aside and tell you where he keeps his guns," Natalie said. She knew from experience, because her sister had brought boys home before. She figured the only thing keeping Landon safe at the moment was the fact that he was 12, her parents didn't know about the kiss(es), and she had introduced him as her best friend, not her boyfriend. He wasn't her boyfriend. Was he?

It was too confusing to even begin to think about. "Come on!"

She started to run into the forest, tugging Landon along beside her. She knew just where to take him.

Natalie dodged around some trees and looked for marks she had left by others. When she found the correct tree, she pulled Landon off the trail and slowed to a walk, since there was far more stuff to trip over once they were off the path. A dying rosebush marked the second turn they needed to make.

"You're not even going to ask where we're going?" she asked, wondering if he was already so used to her that he knew asking would be pointless.

"Oh no!" Natalie cried dramatically. She dropped his hand so she could place one hand over her heart and the other arm across her forehead, as if she was a damsel in distress from an old western film. "You've foiled my evil scheme! I'll get you somehow!"

She stopped walking for a moment, looked at Landon, and then pounced on him. "Gotcha," she said with a grin.

Natalie could hardly stop grinning to return Landon's kisses. There was no doubt in her mind that he was her first love, and she now knew why her mother and sister said there was nothing like it. "Come on, we're nearly there," she slipped her arm around his and started walking again.

After a few minutes they made it to their destination. In front of them stood what was easily the largest, sturdiest tree on the property. Natalie used a low branch to hoist herself up into the tree and started to climb. She may have been afraid of heights, but it wasn't going to stop her from climbing this tree. "If we get to the top, we'll be able to see the whole town," she said.

Natalie almost lost her footing a few times, in true Natalie-style, but she kept a strong enough grip to keep from falling. She stopped about three quarters of the way up, partially because she was getting winded, and partially because if they went up any further, she couldn't guarantee that the branches would hold their combined weight.

She moved over on the thick branch to make room for Landon, who was still climbing below her. "Come on, slow poke! There's a great view up here," she called down to him.

It was true. Despite not being all the way up, most of the surrounding area was visible, including the nearby town. It was a beautiful sight. Very quaint, not a lot of people, but enough that it didn't seem deserted.

Natalie scooted a little closer to Landon when he took her hand and smiled when he kissed her cheek. She turned her head and kissed him gently, just as she had when they were in the Forbidden Corridor at Hogwarts, then started to give him a virtual tour of the area, pointing things out with her other hand.

"That's the church, and the pub, and the bakery, and there's another magical family that lives on the other side of town," she said, pointing toward each place as she named it. There wasn't much more to report, so she did her best to turn on the branch. "And over there is the lake," she pointed more in the direction of her house, but a little to the side.

"What do you think?" she asked with a grin.

"We wouldn't really have needed a house this big, but my parents wanted somewhere away from everything else in case I lost control of my magic. Maman said that once, when she was about 9, she accidentally turned every tree in their yard into a farm animal," Natalie giggled.

"There's something else I want to show you. It's sort of that direction," she pointed beyond the lake. "It'll take us about fifteen minutes to get there if we walk normally," she gave him a little poke in the leg to get him moving. "I promise it will be worth it."

"This way," Natalie turned and started to walk. She normally would have dragged him off, but she was still a bit worn out from climbing up the tree, plus there was still a lot of stuff she could trip over, so she just walked normally.

"What's your family like?" she asked, curious if they were anything like her family, minus the being-from-France part.

Natalie listened with interest. She was surprised to hear that he had a sister, not too far in age from her sister. They probably would have met at Hogwarts, had her sister not been a muggle, like her father.

She was glad that Landon seemed to like traveling, since she did as well. "Where have you been?"

They were starting to get closer, but they still had a little while to go. She couldn't wait until he saw what was waiting for them.

Natalie nodded in comprehension. "I've never been to a Quidditch match. Not just professional, but, any Quidditch match," she said. She hadn't even bothered to go to any of the school games. She didn't know anyone playing and she didn't know any of the rules, so she assumed it would be hard to keep track of what was going on.

She grinned as they got even closer, soon coming to a clearing in the trees. In the middle of the clearing was a rickety looking two story house that looked as though it had been there for at least a hundred years. Just seeing it, even from their slight distance, made Natalie excited.

"Gabi reckons it's haunted. We found it the first weekend after we moved into this house," she said with a devilish grin. "Fancy a look around?"