"Hi Oli."
He stared at me for a moment with a surprised grin. "Al…Alanis." He breathed out my name so low that I barely heard it. "You said you weren't coming!"
"A girl has a right to change her mind." I sarcastically answered as the older woman took my jacket and coughed under her breath.
"Sorry…" Oliver looked to the woman and nodded "Mom this is Alanis, Alanis Mom."
"Its nice to meet you Mrs. Wood." I shook hands with the woman.
"Oh please you can call me either Ruth or mom. No need to be so formal around here." She placed her hand on top of mine. She had a kind smile and deep brown eyes, just like Oliver. I liked her immediately. "Besides, the pleasure is all mine. Its about time we get to meet some of Oliver's friends." She closed the front door just as a timer dinged from the other room. "Oh, excuse me." She swiftly disappeared into the kitchen.
"Where's your stuff?" Oliver looked around me just to make sure I wasn't standing in front of the bag. "Did you bring anything?"
"Oh. Yeah." I pulled out my shrunken bag from my pocket and placed it on the floor "Engorgio." The bag rapidly grew back to its normal size.
"Of course. Magic." I smiled happily as he grabbed hold of the handle and picked it up with ease, then set it on the bottom step of the large staircase blocking the front entrance from the rest of the house. He turned back to me with that same goofy, adorable smile.
"Are you alright?" I chuckled as I tucked my hair behind my ear.
"Yeah." He nodded happily "Just, surprised that you came. What changed your mind? You seemed pretty dead set on staying at school for the holidays." He furrowed his eyebrows, but the smirk never left his face.
"You can thank, or blame, Alex. He said if I couldn't spend Christmas with him and Mom, I might as well spend it with someone I like." Again I tucked my hair behind my ear, something I always did when I was nervous. "He was pretty upset that I told you no in the first place. He really looks up to you, despite the fact that you are in a different house."
"He's a good kid, despite being in Ravenclaw." He retorted with a chortle.
"Oliver." A deep raspy voice came from the other side of the stairs "It's your turn."
"I'm a little busy." He shouted back. "Come on, we're playing a game of exploding snaps."
"I thought you hated that game." Whenever we asked him to play at school he would always refuse.
"Only when the twins play." He hummed "They tend to cheat." He gestured for me to follow him into the other room.
The house had an open floor plan where you could see straight from the front door into the kitchen on the left and a small sitting room to the right. Through the large archway at the bottom of the stairs was another sitting room where everyone was relaxing around a small coffee table with cards in their hands.
"Everyone this is Alanis." The group waved and smiled at me "Alanis this is my dad, Richard." He pointed to an older gentleman with greying hair. "My oldest sister Amelia." She was tall, super skinny and had long dark brown hair. "You know Adam, and my baby sister Clara."
"Hey, I'm not a baby." The little girl couldn't have been more than seven years old with the cutest little bob haircut and the same eyes as the rest of the family.
"You'll always be the baby." Oliver chuckled as the girl stuck her tongue out at him.
"Well…" Adam said as he stood from the chair and walked over to us. He was just as I remembered him, tall, muscular and looked like a complete idiot. He earned himself the nickname of 'the playboy' at Hogwarts, by making it a mission to get with as many girls as he could, including a few in my year "This goddess could not be the little Alanis I remember? Boy have you grown. And I thought you were beautiful two years ago." He looked me up and down while licking his lips, making me a little nauseated. "Why are you associating yourself with this bum?" he nudged Oliver on the shoulder.
I could see the tension in Oliver's face as he clenched his jaw. Obviously, Adam had been getting on his nerves, and he hadn't even been here a full day yet.
"Adam." I said his name with a hint of annoyance and a roll of my eyes, which brought the smile back to Oliver's face.
"Adam, leave the poor girl alone." Amelia said from the table behind him. "Come join us for a new game."
"Oli come sit by me." Clara patted the floor beside her. "You too." She patted the other side now and I happily obliged.
"Do you know how to play my dear?" Oliver's father asked as he handed out all of the card.
"Oh yeah. We play all the time back at school. Although I could never get Oli to join." I looked past Clara with a smirk at Oliver.
"Maybe you should ask nicer next time." He retorted with a grin.
"Oliver is currently the player to beat." Amelia pointed to the score she had written on a notepad beside her. "You think we can beat him?" She had a bubbly personality that made me wonder if she was actually related to Oliver at all. Not saying that he wasn't a happy person, he's just more reserved in his emotions and doesn't like to show his happiness like she did. She had that sort of openness to her that made you want to immediately befriend her.
I gave her a warm smile "For sure. I can normally outsmart him."
He gave a soft partly suppressed laugh and shook his head "I'll keep that in mind for the next Quidditch practice."
Two hours went by in the blink of an eye, and Oliver was still in the lead by ten points. No matter how hard Amelia and I tried, we just couldn't catch up. It was so nice to see him finally relax and have some real fun for a change. I was so used to him being so uptight and worrying about Quidditch, that I never actually got to see him relax. Except for the day we spent at Hogsmeade. When Ruth called that supper was ready, we admitted defeat.
"You should really play at school. You would give the twins a run for their money." I said as we made our way into the kitchen. "Even with them cheating."
"Maybe I will." His mouth twitched, and I was pretty sure he was fighting back a smile.
As we ate supper, I tried my hardest to ignore Adam's stare from across the table. He was getting increasingly more flirtatious with every sip of whatever alcohol he was drinking. I couldn't help but wonder if I made the right decision in coming here.
"Alanis dear." Ruth snapped me out of my fog. "What are you planning on doing after graduation?"
"Oh…umm." I blankly gazed at her "I haven't really chosen a career yet. I'm leaning towards getting my medical degree, but I haven't really decided."
"What do your parent's do? Maybe they could help you with the decision?" Richard asked curiously
"My mom works at a muggle bank in London, and my dad…he…he was a writer, but he passed a little over a year ago." I looked over to Oliver with a saddened grin then tucked my hair behind my ear.
Ruth and Richard look at each other with a pity etched on their faces. "I'm sorry dear."
Richard glances at me unblinkingly "Oliver tells us that you are on the Quidditch team."
"Yes, I'm one of the chasers." I say in between bites of delicious roast. "And second in command whenever Oliver feels the need to put extra pressure on me." He looked at me from the corner of his eye with a crooked smirk.
"He says you are good enough to play professionally." Richard states.
"I don't know about that." I snickered "I nearly fell off my broom during the last game." I rubbed my arm where I slammed into the wall.
"In your defense, it was raining so hard that we couldn't see." Oliver defended me.
"Don't the other players get jealous?" Adam slurs.
I narrow my eyes in confusion. "Why would they get jealous?"
"Doesn't Oliver favor you?" His mom sets her fork down and looks at him.
"Or at least take it easier on you?" Amelia places her elbows on the table and waits for me to reply.
Again I'm confused by these questions and I look to Oliver on my left. He is biting his lower lip and gripping the napkin tightly. I could hear his uneven breathing and tapping of his foot on the leg of the table.
"Oli is pretty professional in his captain duties and treats all of his teammates the same." I chuckle at the thought of him taking it easy on any of us. "I'm certainly no exception."
"But aren't you two distracted by each other on the field?" Amelia smiles with her eyebrows raised. "You know..."
"I'm confused." I wore a puzzled expression. "Why would he distract me on the…" then suddenly the realization hit me, and I turned to Oliver. He was still gripping the napkin but now he looked like he was going to be Ill.
"I would most definitely be distracted by you at all times." Adam winked. "If you were my girl."
"Excuse me?" Without taking my eyes off Oliver I ask, "Your girl?" his face pales even more and he begins to tear at the napkin. "I wasn't aware…" I gently touch his hand to stop him from mutilating the poor napkin any farther.
"You didn't know that you were dating?" Clara asks innocently.
I looked around the table and realized that they had all stopped eating and were now looking at me intently. I swallowed and gripped Oliver's hand tightly.
He opened his mouth to speak but only a squeaking noise came out.
"What I meant to say is that…I wasn't aware we were going to be telling people. You know…that we're dating? We were trying to keep it a secret for a little while."
"It kind of slipped." Oliver winces as my fingernail dug into his palm.
"You should have told me…that you were going to tell people." I couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. "So I wouldn't be so…blindsided."
He cleared his throat and grimaced "Sorry." He pulled his hand out of mine carefully.
"How long exactly have you two been dating?" Amelia asked then took a sip from her wine "Oli didn't go into detail."
"Yes." Ruth stood and began clearing the dishes "We would all like to know."
I could visibly see Oliver swallow before answering "Um…not too long."
I thought for a moment before adding "Since that day we spent at Hogsmeade. Right?" Oliver nodded nervously. "Although, he never formally asked me out."
"When Oli told me he was bringing a girl home, I would have never thought it would be you." Again Adam slurred as he spoke. "I mean Oliver is a good looking dude but you…" I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he leaned in over the table.
I glared at him with a look of disgust "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"You're way out of his league." he bluntly replied with a laugh.
"I am not out of his league." I licked my lips and put my finger up in his face but before I could say anything else to the drunk man, Oliver changed the subject.
"Mum, this roast is delicious. I've missed your cooking."
"Yes, quite delicious Ruth." I smiled at the older woman. "It has been a long time since I've had a home cooked meal."
"Thank you." She took my plate "Its nice to hear every once in a while." She hip checked her husband affectionately and he replied with a smile and a wink.
For the rest of the night I barely spoke a word to Oliver. I just couldn't believe that he had told his family we were dating and didn't warn me about it. In fact I didn't get a chance to talk to him until his mom asked him to show me which room, I would be sleeping in. He carried my bag up the stairs into the far back bedroom across from his, and set the bag on the comfortable looking bed. The room was small but had the most amazing view of the frozen Scottish landscape. From the window I could see a large lake with the remains of an old castle and a large mountain sitting just behind it. I didn't know how I managed to miss the massive lake on my hike up to the home.
I stood beside the window and let out a laugh to which Oliver smiled. "So, we're dating now?"
He let out a loud sigh and shook his head "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Adam was getting on my nerves with the constant teasing and saying that I made up a girl..."
"Which you did." I bluntly stated.
"Yeah, I know." He let out another long sigh as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I figured since you said you weren't coming, that I could just tell him that I had a girlfriend and that would be it…"
"But I showed up." I moved from the window to sit beside him on the end of the baby blue quilt.
"Exactly." He turned to face me but wouldn't look me in the eye. "I'm so sorry for putting you in this position. I have made a complete mess of everything. All you wanted to do was get away from the drama at school and I bring you into this, putting you in the center of my family drama."
"Oli." I breathed out his name slowly as I placed my hand gently on his.
He finally looked at me and he seemed just as defeated as he did after the loss to Hufflepuff. "I can just go back down stairs and tell them all that I made it all up."
"Oliver, you don't have to do that."
"I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to go back to school now." Another sigh "In fact I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to be friends with me again.
"It's okay. I understand how Adam can be. He's manipulative and dishonest. You know, there is a reason he was put in Slytherin." I shook my head "And I wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction or make the rest of the break awkward between you and your family."
"So? What do you want to do?" he was chewing on his bottom lip and swallowing nervously. "I mean…would you consider…"
"Being your girlfriend for the next week?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Yeah." He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply.
"Before I say yes to that question…" His eyes darted open "I have a few questions of my own."
He swallowed loudly "Like?"
"First of all…who was the girl you asked to come in the first place? I wouldn't want to do this if you had a thing for another girl."
He cocked his head to the side "I didn't ask another girl and I definitely don't have a thing for anyone else."
He didn't have a thing for anyone else? Does that mean he has a thing for me? "But you said that you told Adam that you were bringing someone home for Christmas and then it backfired. Doesn't that mean that you asked another girl?"
"No." he chuckled "I told him that I was going to bring someone at the beginning of the year just because he was pressuring me about getting a girlfriend. I thought he would forget about it. Then he wrote me last week asking if I was still bringing a girl…"
"Oh. So there was never another girl?" He shook his head.
"Hasn't been another girl in over a year…" he was staring at me intently now. I couldn't help but think that meant he has liked me for over a year now.
"Did you have another question?" He quietly asked.
I nodded and looked at him seriously. "Are you going to ask before we get married or is that something you will do as I'm walking down the aisle?"
He let out a loud laugh "Is that a yes?" I could see his chest rising and falling with every deep, nervous breath he took.
"I hope you know, this means you owe me a huge favor now." And then he gives me a smile that is genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness, that unexpectedly, causes a warmth to rush through me. I couldn't help but realize that I liked the idea of dating him. Why doesn't he just come out and ask me for real already?