A/N: Hey, everyone :D Okay, as I mentioned in the summary, this is a one-shot that's connected with my multi-chapter story "Lionhearted". It's basically about Oliver's feelings for Calliope until their relationship starts, his personal dilemmas and thoughts. Hope you will like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, only the characters I create
He is a lion.
She is a lioness.
With the difference that she is showing it. How can so much bravery hide in such a young heart? Rarely crying, always trying to discover the truth behind things. He iss helping her, but he never did something marvelous. She is the one who is coming to solutions. The only thing he can do is training his team.
At least, he can do that very well.
Or that is what the others are saying, friends, teammates, teachers. He knows, though, that they are saying that because the team is winning most of the times. Only that winning isn't everything.
He watches her, even when she doesn't notice it. At the way she laughs, at her determined expression when she wants to achieve something, even at the way she bites her lips when she's studying. A normal witch, not extremely beautiful, but pretty and sweet, not a genius, but smart, not the perfect princess of the Muggle fairytales, but still perfect in his eyes.
As the thought starts leaving its trace in his mind, clouds fill the sky, they start covering the sun. Everything falls silent and he knows that it's the calm before the storm.
The night before the big Quidditch final, he has troubled sleeping. She sits next to him, her courage against his cowardice, takes his hands in hers and speaks gentle words. He doesn't want her gentle. He wants her to yell at him that he is useless and that he'll never win that blasted Cup.
But she doesn't do that.
On the contrary, she pecks him.
It is so quick, that he almost doesn't feel her touch. It lasts only for a second, but it's like centuries for him. The lion inside him roars and he wants to hug and kiss her, to escape from this world for a while, even for a short one.
He is fighting against himself, against his wish, thinking that he isn't good enough for her. How can an angel, like her, feel something more for him? She probably kissed him only because she pities him. Yeah, exactly. She pities the average guy, who was sorted into Gryffindor by mistake. He has no right to dream about her, because he doesn't deserve her and he can't pressure her to do something she doesn't want.
He watches her walking away, reminding him even more of an angel in her white dressing gown. Now he can't see the sun through the thick clouds and the first thunder reaches his ears.
The night of the Yule Ball she looks beautiful. Her violet gown makes her eyes, which have the same color, sparkle. Even the color of her eyes is special on her. Seriously, why didn't she stop contacting him when he graduated? Why does a bright witch, like her, have him, a guy who lives only for Quidditch, as a best friend?
He tries to relax, although he has to fight, for one more time, against the urge to tell her how he feels. But it's anything but easy and the two of them dancing together only makes everything more difficult. He feels like being in another world, his nervousness against her calmness. They dance the whole night and he tries to do SOMETHING, to communicate with her only with his eyes.
He tells her that he fancies a walk around his beloved school and she accepts. He feels a gaze on them as they're leaving the Great Hall and sees Lexi Stone, her best friend, gesturing towards the girl that's accompanying him, the girl that's blossoming in a young woman. But he shakes his head and Lexi has an expression as if she wants to use the Cruciatus Curse on him.
He asks her why she hadn't found a date already, before him.
She answers that she wanted someone who knows her well.
He tells her that it's only a ball, not a relationship.
She tells him that she has the exact same standards.
He stops walking and his eyes meet hers. What in Merlin's name does she mean? And why is her gaze so hard, trying to pierce him? She isn't smiling, meaning that she's perfectly serious.
He tries to kiss her, but she pulls away, with the excuse that it's cold and she wants to go inside. It's even colder in his soul and, as the night goes on, he doesn't know how he's holding back and doesn't ask her what she wanted to say with these words. Now their feelings have come to a balance, their fear and the "what if's" torturing the both of them. He is calm (or that's what he wants to show), but he can't help staring at her.
When he leaves Hogwarts, after walking her back to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room, a very cold breeze is blowing, the thunder doesn't allow him to rest and the raindrops start falling.
They are attacked by Dementors and they defeat them together, with their Patronuses. Her dolphin and his lioness.
Of course he would have a lioness for a Patronus. His feelings for her grow stronger as the time is passing and he calls her his "little lioness". Only he can call her that. It's a secret between the two of them and they like it.
She sleeps in his arms afterwards, but nothing happens. Two best friends who need the company of each other after fighting the filthiest creatures in the whole wizarding world. He vows to never hurt her, ignoring the voice in his heart, that's urging him to take the risk.
Seriously, who isn't tensed the morning after a Dementor attack? He hides it and teases her, but she looks different, her discomfort against his ease. He escorts her to St. Mungo's and she is silent. What is she thinking about?
He kisses her.
It is spontaneous, he hadn't planned it. He just needs to let her know how lucky he feels for having her in his life, for her patience to give him courage only with one word.
'Be careful' he pleads her as he kisses her forehead and leaves.
He should know better. Now she will be confused and angry at him, but, suddenly, he is tired of everything. This war is exhausting him, he is fighting Death Eaters, he can't fight against his feelings as well. He is also angry at her. What else does she need to understand that he wants her in his life as something more than a best friend? She acts as if he means everything in a friendly way, because he cares for her and because he's vulnerable because of the situation around them. Yeah, he cares for her, but he also loves her, and if things don't clear soon, he won't know what else to do.
Lightning crosses the dark sky and it is raining heavily. The thunder is still loud, the sound of anger and despair, and the cold threatens to overwhelm him.
She saves his life.
They were attacked by Death Eaters in the Puddlemere United stadium and she came to his aid only minutes later. He is tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, but she casts her Shield Charm and they duel together against Voldemort's supporter. After the battle she hugs him, the shock of the battle fresh in their souls, and they try to calm down in each other's presence.
He suggests her to sleep in his place, because he is worried for her safety, and she accepts. He sings to her the first song that comes in his mind, a song of the wish to go somewhere else, a place only they know. They express their common wish, that they wanted to be able to run away together, away from the war and all this hell.
He kisses her, again it was something spontaneous, and this time she kisses him back. But his joy doesn't last for long, because she pulls back and starts crying. He looks at her and asks her what prevents them to become a couple, his calmness against her confusion. She confesses her love for him, but starts listing the things that can step between them, the fear that a relationship won't work because of the war and that something will happen to him because she is Muggle-born.
All this is total rubbish for him. For him, the only thing that matters is the fact that they love each other and he has the feeling that he can fight anything at the moment. He has told her so many times that it doesn't matter that she is Muggle-born.
He tells her that nothing will happen to him, not even if Voldemort himself attacks him, because, whatever happens, he'll stay by her side. It is the first time he utters the dark wizard's name and he wants to show her that way that she means the world to him.
She seems to understand that, because her expression changes and now he can't figure out her emotions. But the way her eyes, these wonderful, violet orbs, look at him, and her soft smile, deliver him a message and it's impossible to misunderstand it.
He kisses her again and, this time, she doesn't pull back. All negative emotions disappear from his heart and he forgets the war that ensues around him. The only thing that is important to him now is this moment, his happiness uniting with hers.
She cuddles in his arms, his angel, his little lioness, and he holds her as tightly as he can, caressing her hair. He promises her that everything will be fine and she tells him that she's not afraid when she is with him. It was always like that.
Now everything is the other way round.
The storm is around them, the wind blowing like a hurricane, the rain falling heavily on the street, bringing despair and fear.
But in his heart, the clouds have disappeared, the sky is blue and the sun is shining.
A/N: Alright, everyone, that was it. I only thought it would be good if you also had an idea about how Oliver was seeing things until the confession part. I really hope you liked it :)