Katie and I are best friends. And that's
all.
I can tell you her birthday, birthplace, favorite color, middle name, how old
all her siblings are, her parents first names, favorite food, and who her crush
is.
I like to think that she knows all that about me, too. Except for the crush
part. She thinks that I have a thing for Hannah Holst. Not true.
Not anymore at least. Hannah is a very pretty girl, but she's just not my type.
She wouldn't be willing to listen to me babble on about Quidditch.
Katie would listen to me go on and on. That's why she's my best friend. She
likes Roger Davies. I would hope that she wouldn't go on about Quidditch to
him. Not because I am jealous, or anything. Because he is smart enough to use
our plays against us, and that would be bad.
If she liked anyone else, that would be fine. OK, maybe not anyone that plays
Quidditch for another team. No Cedric Diggory or his Hufflepuffs and definitly
not Marcus Flint or his Slytherin comrads. But here she is, hanging out with
Roger Davies, Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain.
"Katie, what do you talk about with him?" I ask in the common room
with Katie.
"Stuff," she says, not looking up.
"Quidditch?"
"Well, sometimes-"
"Katie!" I shriek.
"Wait, wait! But I would NEVER go against the Oliver Wood code of honor
with him. I promise," she says, assuringly.
"I'm going to believe you. What do you say about Quidditch?" I ask,
sternly.
She groans and rolls her brown eyes. "We talk about professional
Quidditch, Oliver. I am not about to tell Rodge all our plays."
I grimace at her. "Rodge? What?"
She blushes and looks away. "That's what I call him."
I chuckled. "That's sick making, Katie."
She takes a throw cushion and throws it at me. "I KNEW you were going to
make fun of me. You're such a prat!"
"Rodge! Rodge Rodge!" I say standing up and laughing.
"What do you call Hannah?!" she asked from the couch.
"Her name. Hannah, and there's nothing funny sounding there."
"Gosh, your no fun, Oliver," she pouts.
"I know. But that's what Rodge is for, right? What do you like about
him?" I ask, sitting down again.
"First off, he's gorgeous, he plays Quidditch, he's smart, he's funny,
he's considerate, he's polite, thoughtful...did I mention gorgeous?" She
lists of on her fingers. Then she sighs heavily. "He's great."
I shrug, nodding. "If you say so."
Then she sits up straight and fast. "Oh but I do say so. You just don't
like him because he's a rival of yours-"
"So? I have respect for him."
"Well fine, but you just don't see him...feel the way I do about
him..."
I chuckle, "It's a good thing, too. Then we'd be competing for the same
guy."
She scoffs at me, "I hope you are joking."
"Duh, Katie. I'm not gay (not that there is anything wrong with it). You
ought to know that."
"I do know that. So, have you spoken to Hannah yet?" she asks
reclining against the arm on the couch.
I did. I said "Hello, Hannah." She said "hi." She didn't
even seem happy to see me. Maybe she's just shy. I'm not sure, but at this
point I'm just trying to be friendly.
"Yes."
"Well, how did it go?" Katie pried.
"Fine," I said curtly.
"What happened?"
"She's not interested Katie. I got a 'hi' out of her. That was it," I
said.
"But that's so cheap! She could have at least said 'Hi, Oliver,' I mean
really. Why do you like such prissy girls?"
I grimaced. "Prissy girls?"
"Nevermind, I've actually told Rodge...Roger...that I was going to meet
him in Greenhouse 3."
"To do what?"
"So I can tell him all of our Quidditch plays," she taunted.
"Katie, really!"
"I'm off now," she said standing up.
"He'll have you back before nightfall, I trust?"
"Yes, Mum. Bye, Mum. Later, Mum," she said backing toward the
portrait.
"Just go already!" I told her.
Girls. I will never understand them.
Things were considerably quieter after Katie left the common room. I got bored
extremely quickly, Ancient Runes just weren't their usual fun, interesting,
enrapturing selves today. I closed my book when it started talking about
Alchemy. I'm never going to be able to change anything into gold, so who cares?
Isn't that what Transfiguration is for?
Magic. I will never understand it.
I'm just trying to get through one more year of school. Well, if you want to be
exact about it, about a year and quarter. I'm a 6th year now, with a case of
seventh year-itis.
I am beyond determined to pass all of my classes. NEWTs, finals and getting
OWLS, because I don't want to have to spend one more year here that I have too.
Apparently, Marcus Flint does not think the way I do. If he even thinks at all.
Ever. Romour has it that he's going to have to be a "super seventh
year," it's the nice way of saying "eigth year." Ok, so maybe
his team has the best racing broom available for all of his players. But
Granger's right, Gryffindor is pure talent.
At least I think so. Or hope so. The Weasleys have being Beaters beat. Katie,
Angelina, and Alicia have being Chasers chased down. Harry has being a Seeker,
sought, and I have being a Keeper kept.
What do you think I think about in my spare time? Girls? Ha, ha. Quidditch, of
course. I can't even count the amount of points I have lost for Gryffindor on
the account of my obsession with Quidditch.
But I'm normal. Everyone has an obsession with something at one point. Katie's
obsession is Roger Davies. His obsession is...well, I wouldn't know. I've never
really spoken to him. He's a fifth year, like Katie.
Ravenclaw. No wonder. Katie likes a guy with a brain. We have established this
many times, through all of her little crushes.
It's actually funny to watch her turn all giggly about a guy. Whenever we have
contests to see who can make who laugh first, I always win. I can just say
"Roger..." as if I am talking to a baby and Katie laughs so hard she
squeaks.
Like a rubber duck. What is the function of a rubber duck? And why does Mr.
Weasley collect plugs?
Sometimes I wonder what life would be like had I been a muggle. Maybe I would
know what big words like "pariah" meant. We don't have English
classes here.
There is no music department, and no drama department. No art department
either. That's just heinous. I hope I am using that word correctly. But
probably not.
I leave the common room, leaving my books on a coffee table and head to the
library. Did you know that we have a whole room devoted to being quiet and
working? When I look around the Annex, almost everyone here is from Ravenclaw.
Almost. There is Granger again. What a funny little girl.
That's wierd. There are two people in one of the study carols. Percy, what a
liar. He said he was doing important prefect business. I wasn't aware that one
of the duties included flirting with Ravenclaw prefects.
But you never know about those Weasleys. Plugs, honestly. Bill is alright, with
his peirced ears and long hair. What a crazy Brit. I am holding a grudge
against Charlie Weasley, though. Talent at Quidditch like that! He could play
for England! But no, he decided to go chase down dragons.
Fred and George are well...Fred and George. Ron is Harry Potters right hand
man. Living a hero's life through his best buddy. It's almost sad really.
And then there is little Ginny. I haven't figured anything out about her yet.
She used to be a cheerful, outspoken child. But lately she's been quiet and
emotional. If i noticed, something must be up.
Nothing for me in the Annex. So I leave, and run into Professor Lockhart. He's
giving me a lecture about fame and what to do with it.
"I see great things in you Mr. Wood. Fame, Fortune, Stardom. When your
living the high life you can look back and say 'Professor Lockhart taught me
everything I know," won't you, Oliver. Yes, maybe one day you'll be a
famous as me!"
Erg. Fame, Stardom. Just let me graduate first. Maybe then, and only then will
I ever be famous. "Yes, Professor. I'm going to get a head start on that
right now!" I say enthusiastically and jog away.
"Impressive! Not wasting any time!" I hear behind me.
I am so glad that Katie doesn't have a thing for Lockhart. Can you imagine if
she did? But, fortunately for me, Katie knows that brain cells don't come in
bottle of hair gel.
I've got more in my pinky than he has in his head, if that's how the saying
goes. And I do not believe anything he wrote in "Travels with
Trolls." It's a worthless book. Katie rips out a page from it every school
day. She's using it as a calendar. She's got the same amount of pages in it as
there are days left until our Seventh year graduation.
She actually was that pitifully bored one day and started chucking pages into
the fire in the common room. She said she was playing basketball, whatever that
is.
But Katie doesn't have time to do interesting projects like that anymore. She
has a potential boyfriend, who she will be giving all of her attention to.
A smart Ravenclaw Quidditch captain. If she slips up and tells him our plays,
it'll hurt us in the end. All because she wanted him to like her.
Girls. I'll never understand them.
