1993:
"Look at him, I'd like a piece of that bum!" said Penelope Clearwater as she watched a group of seventh year Gryffindors pass by with clamor. She waited for a particular boy, her boy, to turn around and smile at her. While the group of her friends looked at Penelope with certain wonder and disgust. Few steps down, the group had dispersed into every direction except for one.
"Penny, such lurid words should be kept inside the head not said out loud" snipped a rather ruffled seventh year Ravenclaw. Penny flicked her hair and smiled at her friend and said "better be Weasley than your yummy cousin, Audrey Wood"
"Ew please stop" the girl named Audrey pleaded as she waved ruefully at Oliver Wood, her cousin extraordinaire, prat first class and quidditch maniac. "What do you see in Weasley anyhow. He's so-"
"Lovely, polite, gorgeous, fun-" Penny rattled on.
"-not fun, stick in the mud, takes too much points away! Honestly, I'd think you're only dating him for his-his...-his-" Audrey stammered.
"Penis?" Penny finished and made her friends all audibly gag.
"What you do with his thingy is your business. But open your eyes Penn, he's no fun!" Audrey said as she glared at Weasley who just took another set of points from another younger Ravenclaw student who he had caught running with a fanged Frisbee.
"Hmm, maybe. But he's fun for me", replied Penelope. Audrey rolled her eyes and kept on walking deciding to drop the topic of her friend's unsavory decision for a boyfriend of sorts.
Hours later Audrey found herself in front of Professor Snape wishing that lab pairings didn't go alphabetical. Looking beside her she eyed Oliver angrily as he played around with the gingeroot as if it were a quaffle. She figured it'd be better that Oliver was her lab partner rather than Weasley. Ever since they were little, Oliver was always all about the game. Oliver taught Audrey what she knew, Oliver was the one who helped her hone her skills in the field, on dealing with men and most definitely hide broken vases from their grandmother who basically raised them both.
"Liver" Audrey hissed under her breath as she spied Snape doing his rounds.
"Do-not-call-me-that" Oliver mumbled angrily darting a glare at Audrey. She looked at him and smirked evilly. Growing up with Oliver had it's perks. She, unlike the rest of the castle, knew how he ticked. Liver always got him.
They were three when their fathers and mothers decided to go and help out in the war. Of course They were left with their Nana Sarah. The Woods didn't get back till months and months after and only one parent came home, Oliver's mom. Let me digress a bit further. That summer Oliver had gotten himself into a bet with the kids by the other hill and well of course he lost and had to eat a tablespoon of cat food as a bet. Audrey still remembered how his breathe stank of liver for a day and hence "Liver" came up.
"Audrey you promised to-" Oliver started and Audrey cut him off, "-I was under the impression that we're lab partners Liver. You aren't paying me enough if not at all to do this much coursework for you!"
"A galleon a week" Oliver offered, smirking at his cousin. She was always the one to easily get the rise off. Her ears turned as dark red as her hair whenever she got angry. One time he got her so mad since he shaved off her favourite dolls hair. Her ears were red for a day.
"Where you gonna get the money, Nana?" Audrey dared. Oliver gave her a look and tossed the gingeroot into the cauldron making Audrey scream inwardly. "Maybe, she loves me more"
"Cut the gingeroot first! small cubes!" Audrey read the last part off of their potions books.
"No worries, I crushed the thing, it'll bleed out its juice faster. Trust me" Oliver offered. Audrey looked down into the cauldron and saw the pink swirls that the book described would happen if the potion was brewed properly.
"How the hell did you do-" Audrey started but quickly silenced as she felt a roll of parchment hit her head.
"Mr. Wood, Ms. Wood" Professor Snape started. Oliver looked around and so did Audrey and saw the monstrosity of Snape shadowing their presence. "If not for your potions skills Ms Wood, you and your unfortunate cousin would have failed to gain access to this class a year ago"
"Truth be told, I'm better than her in potions" Oliver offered and Snape gave him a glare and shrunk low knowing when to shut up.
"Regardless. You're potion exceeds my expectations for now, you may leave today's lab. You are creating a verbal outrage once again" Snape finished as he pointed at the door. Audrey looked horrified and quickly packed her bag and shuffled out the classroom along with Oliver. A few steps out Oliver sighed a relief and said something about putting in some quidditch while waiting for dinner.
Audrey looked at him and breathed in heavily as she started to hit him with her potions book.
"Do you not care about anything else but your quidditch! My mark is bleeding through its ears as if it fell 20 feet from the skies onto it's head!" Audrey cried out."Not everyone has plans to become a quidditch star!"
"Whoa...wait Audrey hold it!" Oliver screamed over her grabbing her book away and holding it up out of her reach. He looked down and saw tears gathering in his cousin's eyes. He did it again, he always made her cry the worst, out of all the cousins he knew how to make her cry.
"I'm sorry...but really everything will work out you will get your NEWT's, we'll get you your dream job" Oliver said softly as he handed her his handkerchief and watched her wiped the tears away. He had forgotten how driven his cousin was and how much she wanted to be something else and not become a quafflehead Wood. All of the cousins were quidditch fanatics but Audrey was different. She was the bookish one of the generation and every generation had one, as well as one spinster. Audrey was shaping up to be the bookish and the spinster.
"You-you promised tha-that you'd do the w-work" Audrey hiccuped, "I need my NEWT's to g-g-get into the ministry"
Oliver threw and arm around her and took her knapsack onto the other, leading the smaller Wood towards the great hall. "Now now Dre, I told you since we were eleven that I'll get you your dream job"
"Don't be silly Oliver-" Audrey said as they entered the Great Hall sitting down at the end of the Gryffindor table. But before she could finish her rant Oliver had crammed a tea sandwich into her mouth.
"I'll get it for you. Okay?" Oliver said, "that is what brothers are for remember"
"We're cousins" Audrey commented. Oliver shrugged and said "Close enough".
AN:
Thanks for reading. leave a mark if you want to!