Beating Wood (Oliver Wood/Muggle OC)
The Woods are a great family to babysit for. It was noon and little Cora Wood (who would always proclaim that being eight didn't mean that she was little) was helping me bake cookies. It was three days before Christmas and Mr. and Mrs. Wood were on a trip for their fifteen-year anniversary, leaving me alone with Cora until New Years.
Well not really alone as my grandmother lived in the next town over but alone in the house. "Stephens," Cora called in a mature voice. Her face was covered with butter from the frosting and her hair had a mixture of flour and chocolate chips in it. "Yes Wood," I called towards her, pausing to push a strand of my hair out of my face and around my bun as I set my bowl of cinnamon and orange cookies on the kitchen island.
"I think the frosting is done." I looked over where Cora was sitting on a kitchen barstool, proudly presenting the icing. It was a little too pink and sprinkly but otherwise, I thought it looked fine. "Okay Cora. Just scoop the icing like this," I grabbed the ice cream scoop and scooped the icing. "Then roll it into little one-inch balls. When done just put them on the flattened chocolate chip cookies. Layer another cookie on top," as I was saying this I grabbed a fork. "Then make a design and tada," I proudly showed her the creation and set it back down on the greased tray.
"How many cookies do we have after this, Stephens?" I looked around and spotted twelve trays. "We can make two trays of icing sandwich cookies, four of the trays can be for the gingerbread people and their homes, and then three for sugar cookies and three for my special cinnamon and orange cookies." At this Cora smiled at me brightly and raised her frosting cover wooden spoon. I grabbed my ice cream scoop and we crossed them before yelling out a battle cry.
"Woah. Cora is it just me or does your oven get bigger every time we put a pan in? Like, all twelve of the pans fit, what kind of witchcraft is this?" Cora muttered something under her breath about a wart and when I looked at her curiously she just shrugged. "Well champ," I announced looking around the kitchen, "I think we should get started cleaning or your walls are going to stain."
I grabbed a stool and started cleaning some egg off the tiles on the wall. Cora grabbed the broom and started sweeping everything in a pile. As we cleaned, everything was quite except for the occasional excuse me. I looked around the kitchen's surfaces were clean and all that was left were the dishes. "Cora, could you start on the dishes? I'm going to go put the bag of sugar back in the pantry down in the cellar." Cora nodded, dragging a small stool for her to stand on and I grabbed the bag of sugar.
The bloody thing weighed what felt like a ton. Okay, fine. The bag was only five pounds but I don't exercise ever. As I made my way to the cellar, I pulled the string on the light bulb. The light turned on and I continued on down. The cellar was old and dusty. In the corner were three large trunks with a pile of what looked like blackened bowls with string tied around the end, on top of them. Next to the blackened bowls was a fireplace with pictures sitting on the mantel. I've seen the pictures many times.
The first one was of Mr. and Mrs. Wood during what looked like their wedding. The next one was of a red baby in a blue blanket in Mrs. Wood's arms with Mr. Wood behind them. The picture next to that was of Cora and some boy (probably a cousin) walking towards a grove of trees, Cora with her face turned over her shoulder, smiling at the camera. And hung over the shelf on the mantel was blown out family picture of the Woods and that one cousin in the previous picture.
The Wood's pantry of dry ingredients was in a dark, musty corner near a display of trophies and brooms. At first, I didn't get why the Woods would display their cleaning supplies until I got a good look at them. The brooms were all polished to a shine and were in varying shades of brown while one in the middle was a bright birch white. They were really nice brooms and the Woods were always weird.
Most people whenever I babysit, give around ten to twenty pounds for every hour, per kid. But not the Woods. The Woods usually sent me home with twice the amount and with an entire buffet packed on my back.
I put the sugar back where it goes in the pantry and sigh, looking around. The cellar was so nice and cool. I sat down on the bed, pushed to the side of the fireplace, and stared at the fireplace absent mindedly. Until the fireplace started glowing green. Panicking, I blinked my eyes and when I knew my eyes weren't betraying me and the fireplace was really turning green, I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on. The broom with the white birch handle.
As someone came out of the fireplace, complaining about the flu, I grabbed my chance. I stepped out of the dark with the broom in my hands and raised it above my head. The figure hasn't noticed me yet and I yelled my battle cry before beating the figure with the broom. He wasn't expecting the ambush so I used my weight and pushed them to the ground, starting a mad run towards the cellar stairs.
The person grabbed onto the broom as I was nearing the stairs and I chucked it into their face before continuing up the stairs. When there I saw him getting closer so I grabbed the pair of boots near the door of the stairs and hurled it at the man. The man, as if expecting me to attack, blocked the first boot, but I quickly threw the second boot, successfully hitting the man. I heard the man yell profanities as I bounded up the stairs and locked the cellar door, catching my breath. As I've said before, I'm not very athletic.
Cora came running out of the kitchen when she heard the cellar door slam. "Stephens, what in the name of Merlin is going on," she asked exasperated. Before I could answer the intruder started yelling and pounding on the door. "Cora, open up lass. This isn't funny anymore. You know Dad is going to kill you for trying to kill me with his Arrow. Bloody hell, couldn't you have used the Cleansweep?"
At this Cora's eyes widen and she jumps up and down before running towards the door. "Stephens, move out of the way." "Cora no," I yell before pushing her away, "There's a madman down there. Came out of the bloody fireplace. I knew I should have thrown some trophies at him." At this, Cora starts laughing.
"Cora," the intruder shouted, "Don't make me bloody reducto the door to get in there." Cora pushed me away and opened the locked door. I quickly ran towards the kitchen looking for something to use to protect us. I couldn't find anything that if I threw, wouldn't harm Cora, so I took off my sneaker. I carefully entered the hallway and saw the intruder picking Cora up and throwing her onto his back.
This is enough. When the intruder's face was turned towards me I chucked the sneaker at his face, hitting him in the face. He cried out but didn't loosen his grip on Cora, instead tightening it. So, I grabbed my other sneaker and tried to chuck it at his face until Cora yelled out, "Stephens quit trying to hit my brother!"
Oh.
I was taking the cookies out of the oven while trying to avoid the glare of both of the Wood siblings. It's not my fault that I didn't know that the intruder was the Wood's oldest child. I've never met the bloke so how was I supposed to recognize him? Instead I focused on taking the cookies out of the oven and setting them to cool. As I was getting to the last tray, the oldest Wood mumbled something, surprising me and leading to the inside of my wrist hitting the top of the oven.
"Bleeding son of a rat's arse," I cried, cradling my wrist after I set the cookies down. Cora huffed, and when she noticed that she has my attention, she pointed to the barstool next to her brother. As I sat down, I started flapping my wrist around and glanced at the other Wood to see him staring at me with a rag pressed to his nose.
"You have a great arm lass. My name is Oliver Wood, pleased to meet you," he extended his hand towards me and I put my hand that wasn't flapping around in his. Ignoring the dried blood, I firmly shook his hand. "I think you already know who I am." Wood nodded.
"So, Stephens, why did you decide to hit me with the Arrow?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "It's not everyday someone just materializes out of green flames," I retort. At this Wood stares at me with wide eyes. "Wait, you've never used the floo?" I groaned. Again, he's talking about this flu. "I've had the flu before Wood but it never led to me stepping out of green flames."
Cora entered with a first aid kit and started taking out some ointment, a cold pack and a couple of band aids. "Oliver, Stephens is a muggle." At this Wood gaped at me and I exclaimed, "what's a muggle?" At this both siblings got in an argument about some state of secrecy. I just ignored them and pressed a cold pack against my wrist and ate a cookie.
"Stephens," Cora said. I looked at her with a brow raised and a cookie stuffed in my mouth. "What," I said through the crumbs of cookie in my mouth. Cora just wrinkled her nose and said, "Pack the cookies." I just nodded and got to packing them with one hand. "That's going to take too long lass," at that I looked at the oldest Wood as he grabbed a strange looking stick and started waving it around. In seconds the cookies were packed and the bins were stacked on top of each other.
Cora glared at her brother. "Oliver, you can't do that. She's a muggle." Again, with that blasted word. "It doesn't matter," Wood said, "She's already seen me floo in and that you just healed her wrist." At that I looked down at my wrist, expecting it to be that angry red color but it was back to my original skin color.
"What are you guys," I asked them. Cora stared at her brother with a look in her eye that said, "you do it, it's your fault." "Well Stephens," Wood started, "have you seen anything weird in my house." At that I wracked my brain. When I first had come over to the Wood's and they had invited me in, I swore I saw a picture move.
And there was also the first time I babysat Cora, when I went to check on her and mid yawn I thought I saw her float. I was so surprised I screamed bloody murder and Mr. Wood had shown up and told me that I hallucinated everything. And there was the fact that the Woods had framed brooms in an expensive looking display case along with the fact that every time I cleaned up or tried to bake/cook with their certain pots and pans they seemed to be never ending.
I told Wood that and he sighed and nodded before rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You see Stephens, I'm a wizard and Cora is a witch." I couldn't help it when I started laughing. "If you're a wizard," I said through my giggles, "then I'm a mermaid. No, a siren. Or a fairy." At this none of the siblings laughed and after a couple of beats of awkward silence Cora gets up.
"Come on. Let's go to your Nana's."
I first thought we would be walking to Nana's but when I said that both siblings shot a surprised glance at me. "Are you insane," Cora asked me. "Your Nana lives about five miles away and by the time we walk over there we'll be walking in the dark." "So, what are we going to do genius," I ask Cora, "fly?" At this both of the siblings smirked. "Pretty much," Cora replied and that's how I found myself seated behind Oliver Wood on the broom that I beat him with.
"Wood," I called out. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Is it safe for you to be, you know, driving with only one hand." Wood had one hand around the handle of the broom and the other one contained the same rag that he was pressing to his face, except for the fact that it had a bag of ice. "I'm the Captain of the bloody Gryffindor Quidditch Team, lass. I'll be fine. You may want to hold on though."
Before I could say anything, he shot up in the air and I tightened my grip on the broomstick. As we started moving forward though, I started slipping backwards and almost off the broom. Cora passed us, giggling before sticking her tongue and zooming forward. "Oh no you don't you brat," Wood muttered and then we shot of behind Cora.
My hands were shaking and my grip was loosening on the broom. I slowly inched closer to Wood, pressing my chest flush against his back and holding on to the front of his jumper, arms around him. I buried my face slightly in his jumper near the crook of his neck and he teetered to the side. In return, the broom started moving to the side and then it started nose diving.
I started screaming but Wood jerked up the broom. 'You can stop screaming lass," he commented and soon we were landing on the ground near Nana's rows of hibiscus's, mint and irises. Wood stopped the broom so our feet were a few inches off the ground. "Stephens, could you please let go? Your nails are digging in." I nodded and slowly got off the broom with shaky legs. Cora, satisfied with the fact that her broom wasn't that noticeable held out her hand for the other one. While she was hiding the brooms, I gathered the two tins of cookies we brought and walked towards Nana's front door.
Wood followed behind me and when we got towards the door, I shoved the tins into his hands and proceeded to smack my cheeks. I grabbed the tins from Wood and ignored the look he gave me. "It's so the color would return to my face. I don't like heights. They scare me." I slowly knocked on Nan's cheery red door. A few minutes later she opened the door.
My Nana wasn't like most grandmothers. Nana had my dad and his siblings very young so she was in her fifties while most grandmothers I had met were in their seventies to eighties. My Nana couldn't cook for shite so Pappy did all the cooking. Right now, Nana had a kitten in the front of her dress pocket, while a bearded lizard named Sugar was taking refuge in her hair and Spice the snake was hissing from her neck. Salt and Pepper, Nana and Pappy's shelties were barking in the back.
"Hi Nana," I said grinning. Nana in return yelled for Pappy to fix something up and stepped away from the door. Cora bounded in quickly and after Nana had given her a quick hug and messed up her hair, she handed her the kitten that was residing in her dress, telling her to go feed it from the bottle in the kitchen. "Nana, this is Oliver Wood. He's Cora's older brother. Oliver this is my Nana and you'll see Pappy in the kitchen."
Wood smiled and stuck out his hand for Nana to shake," Pleased to meet you Mrs.…" Nana instead brought him in for a hug and replied, "Just call me Nana." Then she turned towards me. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend. It's nothing to be ashamed of," she said when she saw the surprise on my face. "He's mighty fit too." "Nana," I said, flitting my eyes between her and Wood, whose, bless him, ears were turning red. "Wood's not my boyfriend. I met him today and the circumstance wasn't what would even lead to the prospect of us dating." Nana just nodded but the gleam in her eyes hasn't left yet.
Nana was seated at the right of Pappy, who was seated at the head of the table and to the left of Pappy, I was sitting with bloody Oliver Wood sitting next to me and Cora across from him. Nana was not done with her match making for tonight. When we first had entered she had Wood and I set the table together, then she had us take Salt and Pepper outside and play with them. But the cherry on top was what had happened five minutes ago.
I had gone upstairs to change into different clothes as Salt had pushed me in to some dung fertilizer that Nana used on her trees. I had finished taking a quick shower and was in my towel drying off my body when I heard the door click open and Oliver bloody Wood had walked in. He didn't seem to notice me at first, partially because I was hiding behind the shower curtain but when he started undoing his belt I let out a squeak.
Wood had heard me and when he saw me, half hidden by the shower curtain and holding onto my towel he let out a scream. At that I also let out a scream and when his screaming turned higher, he had stopped. A few seconds later we both stopped and stared at each other. His belt was undone and his pants were sliding lower and I could see the beginning of his underwear, which was a dark red with wooden hoops on them. Downstairs, I heard a voice talking and then it was followed by deep guffaws. Nana did this.
Not looking at Wood, I pointed at the door. "Could you get out. Please, Oliver," I asked, my voice low. He nodded and walked out before closing the door behind him gently. I heard him slide down onto the floor outside of the bathroom and I sighed. Angry tears welled up in my eyes when I realized that Nana had done this. It's one thing for her to embarrass me but to drag Wood into this was not alright.
I sniffed and let the tears fall out as I towel dried my hair and brushed it back in a bun. When I was done I exited the bathroom and saw Wood sitting outside. He looked up, his eyes guilty and standing out on his red face. "Stephens, I," he started but I interrupted him. "I'm so sorry Oliver. You're a guest and Nana should never treat anyone like this, let alone a guest."
"Stephens, it's fine. But what we really need to talk about is you keeping quiet about me being a wizard. I'd rather not risk my career and I'm sure you don't want your memories gone." "Oliver," I say, "even if I told someone no one is going to believe me. I'm just going to be tossed into the loony bin." "Alright lass," he said before giving me a quick smile and entering the restroom.
"I'm really sorry Oliver," Nana said, her puppy eyes showing clear, as she turned around from where she was washing the dishes for Cora to dry. "It's just that my darling granddaughter has been alone since I could remember. I couldn't pass the chance of a nice-looking boy like you to be with my nuisance of a granddaughter. After all I do want greatgrandchildren."
Oliver started coughing, his face turning a beet red color. Pappy silently hit his back, amusement in his eyes. "I-I d-don–," Oliver sputtered, the water he was drinking running down his chin. "Nana, quit teasing Oliver. After the stunt you pulled with the bathroom, I don't want Oliver to go to the hospital." As I passed Oliver's chair balancing dishes I whispered to him, "But would having kids with me that bad?" He started turning red but ignored my question.
"Oliver," Pappy started, "I was hoping you and Cora would stay, at least for the night. It is quite dark and its sleeting outside." Oliver nodded and Pappy led him off to where the guest bedroom is. "Cora," I called looking for her. "Yeah Stephens," she responded as she fed the kitten. "Go to my room and change into the pajamas you left here last time." At that I left for upstairs.
"Throw harder Stephens," Oliver yelled at me. "I'm trying," I huffed between breathes. I was currently outside in the Wood's backyard. There were three hoops behind Wood and he was having me chuck a ball called a quaffle through the hoops as he tried to block them. On a broom. More than one hundred feet in the air.
I was dangerously teetering on a broom that had training spells on it as I sped forward towards he was. I feigned to left and made it look as if I was going to throw there. Oliver, as if knowing I was going to do that, went to guard the center and right hoops, leaving the left open for me to score in. As I made it in I let out a groan and willed the broom down.
Oliver followed me, blabbering about how I had to teach the chasers on his team the trick. "Oliver," I said as I turned towards him, "I understand practicing but why did you wake me up at four? And when is your team coming? It's almost eight." Wood rolled his eyes but when he was going to reply there was a loud crack and three girls appeared. I screamed and latched myself onto Oliver.
"Katie, Angelina and Alicia, I want you to meet Stephens. Stephens that is Katie, Angelina and there is Alicia." I gave a small smile towards the girls. "Wood," Angelina asked, "who's this?" Oliver smiled at me and wrapped an arm around me, pressing me into his chest. I tried to ignore how hard his muscles felt and focused on the grass. "This, Johnson, is my practice buddy. If Stephens went to Hogwarts, she'd surely would have replaced any of you."
"What school do you go to," Katie asked, eyes focused on Oliver's arm around me. "I, uh, go to a school in France." "Oh, so Beauxbatons," she replied. "No," I said as I shook my head. "I'm what you guys call a muggle. I go to an academy in Paris near my parent's bakery." At this all of the girls looked surprised.
"Hey guys," someone yelled from the house. I look over and see a pair of twins walk over towards us, pushing each other. When they see me, they only raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Nice to know you kept us ten minutes behind schedule," Oliver said. "You're going to run twenty laps around the yard while swinging the bat."
At this one of the twins groaned. "But Wood, you didn't introduce us to your young lady friend. A downright shame that someone is stuck with Wood, don't you think so too, Gred." "I do think so, Feorge," the other one replied.
"Fred, George, shut up." "If you're not going to introduce us, I guess I'll do it myself," one of the twins said, waving his hand to his brother. "This is Fred and I am George, nice to meet you." I smiled before giving my name. "Well Stephens, if Wood ever annoys you just stop by at the Burrow. Mum would love to have anyone stop by." Oliver rolled his eyes before pushing one of the twins. "Well lads, let's get practicing. Weasley, go do your laps."
Practice was cut short by hail, because even rain couldn't stop Oliver from it. What a madman. The girls ended up leaving for Alicia's house and the Weasley twins used the floo powder to get home to greet the seventh member of the team, as he was out and is staying at their house. Every day, the team came to practice, all members including Harry Potter who was like a savior for defeating some mad magician. Break ended quickly and the Woods returned, surprised to know that I knew that they were magical but when they heard of how I met Oliver, they had laughed.
Two days after the Wood's had returned, I had to go to Nana's and pack to go back to the academy in France. The Wood's promised me that when Gryffindor (not if) makes it to the Quidditch final they'll get me tickets so I could watch the game. Soon after, my winter fun at the Wood's was over. Until an owl pecked me on the head, that is.
I groaned as the owl kept on pecking my head and I cautiously held out my hand. I shared a tiny apartment with my friend, Savannah, I wouldn't want her to get freaked out by the owl. The owl dropped the parcel and swooped away, not before it gave an angry screech. "What was that," Savannah asked, brushing her hair. "I, um, got some mail from that boy over Christmas break. I think the parcel contains tickets to the final of the school football championship. And I might have screamed when I realized who it was from," I finished lamely. Savannah nodded and sat down beside me, before taking the parcel away from me. "Don't mind if I do open this up."
I just rolled my eyes but stared as Savannah opened the parcel up slowly, making sure not rip any of the brown paper. Inside the parcel was an envelope, which I grabbed immediately, much to Savannah's chagrin, and slim box. Savannah eagerly opened the box and took out the sweater that was in there. A note fell out from the sweater towards me and I tried to reach out and grab it but she had pounced on it.
"Stephens," Savannah read in a schmoozy voice with a very bad Scottish accent. "As I have told you before we made it to the finals for the house cup. It's against Slytherin, our sworn enemies and I would love to wipe the smirk off Flint and Pucey's faces. I would really appreciate it if you could attend the match, as I am sure you would love to see Flint trying to communicate to his team in grunts, as he is a troll. I have my practice jersey from a year ago in the box and I hope it doesn't smell that bad. Hope to see you this Saturday, Oliver."
Savannah clutched the note and dramatically threw herself at me. "You should already get married," she squealed. "Savannah," I said. "I don't think he likes me the way I like him. He usually calls me lad or lass. Besides, it's more likely he'll choose someone off the team to date." At this Savannah pouted but let the topic drop.
"So, are you going to go?" I shrugged but she narrowed her eyes at me. "Saturday is tomorrow," she said in a sing songy voice. "Savannah, I have nothing to wear," I complain as I shuffled into my room and threw open the wardrobe door. "Well for one," she said sneaking in behind me, throwing the jumper at me. "You can wear his jumper. The jumper looks really big so wear a lacy bra with wide lacy straps underneath. And just pair it with a black skirt," as she was saying this, Savannah threw the bra and skirt on my bed. "Also," she said, "wear these red shoes."
"Thanks," I say gratefully. "So where is this school?" I shrug. "I don't really know but let me see." I opened the envelope and pulled out a ticket for the final. Underneath it was an address in France. "It says to go to this bookshop and the owner will take me there." Savannah looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You do know that sounds sketchy, right? And you never told me where this school is."
I swallowed, "On the note it says that I'm going to a school in Germany." This was partially correct as the note did tell me to tell non-magical folk that I'm going to Germany but I was told multiple times that I was going to a school in Scotland. "Savannah, I'm going to fill out the leave documents. Don't eat all the pastries." Savannah ignored me but gave me a small nod.
I was standing in front of the bookstore, stretching my leg as I rolled my bike in. I was wearing Oliver's practice jumper from the year before along with the clothes that Savannah had chosen for me to go with it. Savannah had woken up with me to do my hair and my makeup, even though I told her that he's seen me only in a towel, thanks to Nana.
As I walked in, a woman who looked like she was in her thirties greeted me. I looked down at the name on the letter I got with my ticket, "I was hoping to talk to Mr. Artigue?" The woman looked at me confused so I translated. "J'espérais parler à M. Artigue?" The woman made a knowing sound before she gave me a heavy that had Artigue written on the front. The woman tapped her watch and held up one finger. I nodded in understanding and she ushered me into the back room so she could help another customer.
A couple of seconds later, I felt like I was flying but the feeling ended as I started descending towards the ground. Suddenly, I felt myself slow down to a stop before the green grass. I reached a hand out and touched the grass and then slowly righted myself to see Cora and Mrs. Wood smiling at me while Mr. Wood had what looked like a stick in front of him.
"Stephens hurry up, we're going to be late to the match." "Hello to you to Cora," I say. Cora was wearing a sweater, the same color as mine but with her face was painted half red and gold. Mrs. Wood was dressed similarly but she had a sign that had a lion on it. Seeing me staring at her she, pressed the lions nose and it let out a roar. Mr. Wood also had a sign but it was a lion eating a snake. He was wearing a sweater just like all of us but he also had a scarf.
"Let's go. Minerva is waiting for us." Mr. Wood nodded and led us down to the cellar. I stopped in my tracks. What is the Woods weren't taking me to a Quidditch final but instead were going to beat me with a broom? Cora pushed me and I started walking forward towards the fireplace. "Listen up. Cora, I want you to go with Stephens first. Both of you hold hands and say McGonagall's office. When you're there, have her take you to the common room, wish the team good luck and find us in the stands." Cora and I nodded and Mrs. Wood gave us some powder in our hands.
Cora stepped in the fire and I stepped in behind her. I was expecting the fire place to be small but it was rather vast. Cora grabbed my hand and threw her powder down. I followed her and the fire turned green. "McGonagall's office," we shouted or in my case I tried to shout. As Cora stepped out of the fireplace and I rolled out, sneezing, we were in a circular office.
"Ms. Wood and Ms. Stephens, presume," a strict voice called out. I looked up and saw woman with grey hair pulled in a bun and green eyes staring at us. I nodded and clambered up to my feet. The woman waved her wand and I felt as though I've been dipped in a cool bath. When I looked down, all the soot was gone and Oliver's jumper was even smelling nice. Like lavender.
"Hi Minnie," Cora said and the woman smiled at her. "Minnie, this is Stephens. She's my babysitter. She's a muggle." The woman turned her gaze at me and gave me a smile. "Come right this way." We followed Professor McGonagall or Minnie has Cora called her down the hallway. The school seemed like it has a mind of its own as we turned certain ways and filed outside. "Minnie, I thought we were going to common room," Cora asked.
"Your brother is in the locker rooms, not in the common room. I am sure he is giving his team speech," when saying the last bit, her eyes twinkled and she smiled at us. When we reached the locker room, she opened the door and ushered us in before informing us that she need to go meet someone.
When Cora and I had walked in, Oliver was yelling at the Weasley twins. Most would have been afraid or cowering but they were grinning at him. When he was done he turned to the board in front of him and using his wand, he made a diagram and with a tap the players started moving. He went to describe the diagram but caught sight of me and Cora. He smiled. I ignored the fact that the little voice in my head was swooning and gave him a shy wave.
The rest of team gathered around us, saying their various hellos and excuses before leaving since the match starts in three hours. Oliver had Cora and I sit down. "So Stephens, do you know how the game works?" I shook my head. Oliver clapped his hands together and said, "No time like the present to learn about the best sport ever."
By the time the match was about to start, the whole team had arrived and started warming up. The girls were tossing a ball back and forth and the Weasley twins had enchanted some scrap paper to come and try to hit the girls. Harry was looking through the plays that Oliver had made for him and I was getting lectured through the seven hundred ways someone could get a foul.
'And there was this game where all seven hundred fouls and more were played in––," I cleared my throat softly. "Oliver, it's almost ten so Cora and I should go find some seats." Oliver nodded and pulled Cora into a hug, jerking her away. He turned to me and smiled. "If you're having trouble finding one thing to focus on the game just focus on the quaffle. Or on me." I smiled and gave him a hug. He smelled like pine and slightly like sweat. Pulling away I messed up his hair and waved at him before leaving, Cora in tow.
The game had ended after an hour of anticipation. Harry had caught the snitch and Gryffindor had won by one hundred seventy points. While doing the victory lap, Cora and I piled down to see Oliver. When the team landed, all the Gryffindors were gathered around them. The referee of some sort, who Cora told me was Madam Hooch, brought a glistening gold trophy and gave it to Oliver.
His face was pink and his hair was wet with sweat and plastered to his face, but I couldn't help but think that he looked absolutely perfect. Like something Michelangelo would carve. Cora pulled us into the throng of students and I glimpsed Mr. Wood talking to a man in blue and black robes, smiling and nodding. I turned around to see Oliver smiling.
"How did I do, Stephens?" I pretended to think. "I would give you a six, Wood. And that's only because most of your team is very good looking. Except for you." Oliver pouts. "But I do believe I get something for leading my team of good looking brats to victory." I swallow the lump in my throat and stand on my tip toes, leaning forward. Oliver leans down and my eyes flutter shut when his calloused hand touches my face. When his lips touch mine, I hear a shutter go off and Cora yelling. I pull away and see Cora yelling at Mrs. Wood who took a picture of us. "For my grandchildren," she said, effectively turning Oliver and I red, and when I looked at him from the corner of my eye, I saw him staring at me with a gentle smile and I knew life couldn't have been better.
7 years later
I lied. When I said that life couldn't have gotten better I had lied. I was sitting in the waiting room waiting for Healer Jones to call me in. "Mrs. Wood," she called and I smiled at her. She smiled back and led me in, sitting me down on a bed.
"When is your husband going to get here?" I sighed and looked at the clock. "How long do you think," I inquired and in response she smirked. "I don't know. What was the record again?" "Two hours," I reply and we both laugh. "How are things with you and Flint?"
Jones sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. "I saw a ring in his coat pocket." "Ah." I say. "I mean I love him and everything but I'm scared that he'll realize that it's not me he loves but someone else like his secretary." At this I roll my eyes. "She's a halfwit and we all know it."
She's smiled and looks down at her watch. "He's almost twenty minutes. Didn't he tell his manager that he has to leave early? This is a special day for both of you." "I know," I reply, patting my protruding stomach. "Let's just wait a while and start on prepping."
Jones and I were talking about her days at Hogwarts when Oliver appeared with a pop. "I'm really sorry, love. Practice ran over and I couldn't get through the front because of the press so I had to run and hide to apparate over." I give him a kiss to show that I forgive him and Jones jumps into action.
"Wood help your wife lay down and pull up her shirt a little." I laid down slowly, Oliver's hand on my back guiding me. He pulled up my shirt and gave my belly a small kiss. "Do you want to put the balm on her or should I," Jones asked. "I'll do it," Oliver said he. He scooped some of the grey balm rubbed it gently over my stomach.
"Now we wait." We waited for around ten minutes until the balm had turned into the color of my skin. Oliver gripped my hand and smiled at me. Jones tapped on my belly, muttering some spells and slowly we were able to see inside. There was a potato shaped creature that I recognized as our child and I squeezed Oliver's hand, looking up at him through my tears.
"Can we know the gender," Oliver asked, voice quaking. Oliver had always wanted a daughter but I could care less, as long as Oliver didn't name our child after a Quidditch player, I was fine. Jones smiled. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Wood. You have a healthy baby girl."
So, I finished this. It was one the longest I've ever written. I hope you enjoy this. If you want you could request something. Please Read and Review.