"Oi, Wood." Oliver looked up from his textbook and blinked at the student standing in front of him. He didn't actually know her, but he thought she was a friend of… Katie's?
"What is it?" he asked. He didn't really have the time to talk to this girl. The Quidditch season had just ended, and now he was busy trying everything in his power to get a spot on a professional team. And of course, there were also the NEWTs that would start in only a little over a month. You could say that Oliver Wood was busy, but that would be an understatement.
"Katie told me about your… predicament," the girl informed him, sliding down in the chair opposite him. Predicament? For a moment, Oliver didn't understand what she was talking about. Then he remembered the letter his parents had sent him only a few days earlier – about them being gone for the Easter holidays, so he wouldn't be able to come home. Still, they wanted him to keep up with his studies (you never knew what that could be good for later in his life), and not put all his spare time into his attempts to start a real Quidditch career.
"She did, huh?" He might have complained about his parents not having their priorities straight to some people on his team, yes. He would have reconsidered doing that if he had known that they would, in turn, tell half the school.
"Your parents want you to study in the break," she noted, and Oliver nodded. "Are you planning on doing that?"
"Why do you want to know?" he asked her. "I don't even know you."
"Ah, of course," the girl said, a small smile playing on her lips. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Lori Roberts. Fourth year. As you already expected, I guess."
"Sort of," he admitted. The self-confidence this girl seemed to be oozing kind of put him off. He didn't feel entirely comfortable around her. "But – no, I think Quidditch will devour all my spare time."
"Is that the way you want it to be?" she asked, sitting back in her chair and cocking her head slightly to the side. "Do you think Quidditch is more important than your studies?"
"Honestly?" he asked. "Yeah, kind of." His future lay in Quidditch, after all. Not at all in something he should now be studying for.
"There are people who think differently," she informed him, as if he didn't already know that. She held out an envelope for him, and he took it, surprised. Opening it, he found a small note from the Head of his House – Professor McGonagall.
"Why do you have this?" he asked Lori, eyeing her strangely.
"She asked me to give this to you," the girl said in reply.
He felt her eyes on him the entire time he read the note. He actually read it a couple of times, trying to tell himself that it didn't really say what it said. He was seventeen, for Merlin's sake! He didn't need his parents to write to his school with instructions as to what he should do.
When he finally had to accept that the note really told him to find a place to go to – a friend's, most likely – for the Easter break, so that he could study in peace there, he stood up as swiftly as he could and marched out of the portrait hole. He could not just accept this so easily.
Only when he was almost at McGonagall's room, he noticed that he was being followed. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Lori tagging along as if it was something she did every day. That was slightly worrying.
"Ah, Mr Wood!" McGonagall greeted him as she saw him – her door was open, so that shouldn't be all too hard. "I take it you got my note?"
"This is ridiculous," Oliver spat as soon as he was inside the room. McGonagall didn't look fazed at all; she must've expected this kind of reaction from him. "I'm seventeen! My parents don't need to tell me what to do, I can decide that for myself!"
"So you do realise that if you choose to stay here and put all your time into writing letters to Quidditch teams, asking them to allow you to try out, you will most likely fail all your classes?" McGonagall asked strictly. "You might have to repeat this year."
That was rather radical, Oliver thought. He knew that he might not be the smartest student in his year, but there were enough people who got lower marks than he did on their essays and other assignments. "Professor, with all due respect," he started, "as I said, I'm seventeen. Shouldn't I be old enough to decide what's best for me? I doubt I'll fail if I – might put a little more time into Quidditch than into my studies. Besides, I won't really need any of these classes once I get on a professional team."
"I know that, Mr Wood," McGonagall said, "but your parents have requested for us to send you somewhere for the break where you can study in peace."
"Do I even have a choice in this matter?" Oliver asked, frowning a bit. It all sounded so… final.
"It's for the best, Mr Wood," McGonagall told him.
Oliver cursed under his breath. He was so not happy with this – the break started in less than a week. "Fine," he muttered angrily. If he had to. If he absolutely had to. Then, he remembered something. "But I don't know anyone who's going home in the Easter holiday," he tried, using that argument as a last saviour.
"I am," a voice came from the doorway, and it appeared that Lori had been listening the entire time. "You could come with me."
"But – " Oliver spluttered. "I don't even know you!"
"Which is all the better," McGonagall intervened. "That way, I can be sure that you will study with all your might. Ms Roberts' parents are Muggles, so there will be no opportunity at all for you to play Quidditch, or have too many owls arrive for you."
"Did you also tell them already that I am coming, or what?" he asked the odd girl, and she smiled.
"Just sent them an owl. They will keep an eye on you, I'm sure."
Oliver snorted. This was just great. He would have to spend his Easter break with a bunch of Muggles this year, just because his own parents weren't in the country? Just because they wanted him to study, and not play and think about Quidditch all the time?
They didn't understand him at all.
"So, if that's all, Mr Wood – I have some work left to do. Thank you, Ms Roberts."
Lori smiled widely. "It's not a problem, Professor."
As they walked back to the common room – Lori skipping, Oliver trudging – he asked her, "Why are you even doing this?"
"To help out a fellow student," she answered innocently, but at his raised eyebrow, she gave in. "Fine. I'm hoping that taking you home for the break will make Fred jealous."
Oliver rolled his eyes. Just his luck. He wouldn't just be stuck with Muggles this Easter, but with a lovesick teenager as well. He could barely wait.
A/N: And thus begins another story... what do you think so far? If you have any comments or questions or anything else, don't hesitate to leave a review!
Oh, and: Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Harry Potter, sadly...