Chapter 14

Wright took a bite of her apple. This annoyed the hinkypunks out of me. Wright never ate a single unhealthy thing. There we were, it was late and we'd been sitting in our dorm for I don't know how many hours, alternating between preparing for the game the next day and catching up on homework.

And Wright was eating an apple! While the rest of us were desperate for whatever sugar we could find. I'd been wolfing down Fizzing Whizzbees for hours, but she seemed immune to sweet temptations. She was always snacking on nuts or a tomato or whatever and it made me and the others feel like utter trash.

I threw the thought to the side, scaled it down to being about my stress about the match. In the last few days I'd barely left the pitch or common room. In the moment all I felt was worn down and stressed, but from experience I knew that in a few weeks I would look back at this time and find myself missing it. I would miss having a reason to always be in the air or hanging out close and intensely with my friends.

It was always a strange time, the week before a game. Being the captain especially brought with it some strange interactions. People I didn't know came up to me wishing me luck or giving me advice, the latter being mostly boys thinking they are somehow needed. Usually, I would humour them for a while as an inside joke with my friends, trying to make them feel like they had my attention and then I bring out the big guns, firing at them with Quidditch terms they didn't know of and plays they'd never even tried, that would usually shut them up. Sometimes I could keep a straight face through that part but usually I would laugh in their faces and they'd stalk of, to my solace, never to return.

"Alright guys. We should probably sleep now." I said. "A good night's sleep is probably the most important asset we can have tomorrow." Everyone agreed and I began gathering all the books and junk off the floor.

"Are you nervous Willow?" Bianca asked from her bed. She was reading the biography of Uric the Oddball, to which I smiled at. Bianca loved biographies for some reason.

"About the game? Not really. Maybe it'll kick-in tomorrow." I replied. Bianca still had that searching expression on her face, she seemed to expect my facial expression to tell her something my words wouldn't. But it was true. I wasn't really nervous. I couldn't say that I didn't want to win tomorrow, I did. If I didn't then I wouldn't have spent the last of my waking hours making sure I was fully prepared. — But nervous? No. Quidditch didn't make me nervous. If it had, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much.

I did have some feelings though, but nervous wasn't the right word for it, more like curious, about how Oliver would react to the results tomorrow. If Hufflepuff won, then rest in peace to our friendship/acquaintance/whatever. What had happened the last time we saw each other was still gnawing at my mind, but my friends had asked no further questions. My row with Oliver seemed to be the last thing they wanted to hear about at the moment, which I was more than happy about.

Saturday came as expected. To say that Saturday was expected would actually be an understatement of sorts. Walking into the Great Hall for breakfast at 8 a.m. — the only Saturday of few where I was actually in the Great Hall at this time– had me breathless. Around the entirety of Hufflepuff table were people dressed in yellow and black, they had banners placed by the table as well. I made a vow to myself to try and read every single one once up in the air before the game began.

I assumed that there were people dressed in scarlet and gold as well, but I couldn't tell you for a fact. All I saw right then was yellow and black.

I found it very odd. I'd been through this before, the hype of the supporters. But not like this, it felt personal, like they were my supporters primarily. Which sounds conceited, I know. But I didn't care. Today was my day no matter the results of the match. Also, I was telling the truth when I said I was going to work on my ego.

When I walked up to the spot where my friends (including my whole team) sat, everyone cheered. Not only did my friends cheer, my whole house cheered. Graham was sitting there, right next to my plate of beans and toast. I smiled warmly at everyone and cheered back.

"This is going to be a fun day." I smiled widely and everyone cheered again. Graham only laughed at our, to him, strange conduct.

The events before the game poured by like water. I thoroughly enjoyed walking through the corridors with my team and wishing every player we met good luck on our way down to the pitch. When Roger came up to wish us luck my friends gave me a look. I discovered that I found it strange talking to him after The Revelation. He asked to continue our sessions, which I agreed to although disappointed that it apparently wasn't because of my herbology skills.

We didn't see Oliver before the game. I figured that I should probably be thankful for it, that is one person I would find it strange talking to from hereon. But I was curious, and I knew that my curiosity could not be stilled until I inevitably talked to him to see how he was.

We both knew how he got before a Quidditch match, we both knew we'd kissed, we both knew about our… rivalry of some sorts? I just didn't know what to expect, how would he act around me? How would I, around him?

"Alright people of all genders," I clapped my hands together, which made an echoing sound in the locker room. I felt like a true captain, I had taken on a role today that I didn't usually do. I was acting professional. Everyone was in their gear, looking at me expectantly. "It's not like I can tell you anything we haven't already discussed multiple times in the last few days. But I just want to take a moment to give us some credit. We've been really dedicated lately and it's shown results, we've all advanced rapidly… and I'm proud of us." I finished with a smile.

"Aren't you proud?" I asked them excitedly, trying to get a response, and response I got indeed when everyone cheered loudly. Language hadn't been all that articulate since I woke up. It had been more like a lot of loud noises from most people. I took this as a good sign. Quidditch is physical and every interaction had turned into that of a very physical and primal one. We were all very energetic. We were in the right zone.

The team stepped out of the locker room and into the cold and rugged weather. The sounds of our voices were immediately drowned out by the louder sounds of the stands.

When I spotted Angelina and the others I ran up to them, I figured that talking to friends would make me think less about the hundreds of people in those seats. I greeted them warmly with hugs. I noticed that Oliver was among them, but tried not to look at him. I tried not to think about how we were going to shake hands in a couple of minutes.

And those minutes passed unthinkably quickly before Madam Hooch blew her silver whistle, asking for us to take our places on the pitch.

I turned to my team. "Are you nervous guys?" I asked trying to sound as cheery as I could despite the small lump that had finally begun to form in my stomach.

"Yeah I'm quite nervous, I'll admit." Hamish said between breaths. I had noticed to my contentment that the previously reserved Hamish had gradually become more comfortable and outgoing since he'd joined our team.

Hamish's confession seemed to have served as a cue for everyone else to tune in with their nervous mutterings. I went in for an as good of a group hug as I could with an assemblage of seven people. "It doesn't matter guys. None of this matters, okay? Remember that time we all looked for the snitch and no one could find it? This is just like that. A couple of friends having fun on a field." I looked at each-and-every-one with a serious expression, "Have fun out there." before I turned and walked toward the middle of the field, broom in hand, to shake hands with my friend/acquaintance/whatever.

"We won." Said Peter Griffith to me.

"You said that already." I answered him. I was dazed, that's for sure. I was sure it wasn't because of the whiskey, since I, apart from everyone else, hadn't had any.

"I just can't believe it." He continued breathlessly and took a huge swig of his fire whisky.

"GUUUYS!" PJ yelled from what is normally considered too distant to start a conversation. She was holding two fire whiskeys and made her way through our crowded common room. I had to say, PJ was killing it. She was looking really good in her dress and I had rarely seen her this giddy and excited. She was by far the loudest, which is saying something since the party had been going on for a while and people were loud.

"Guys!" She yelled again once she had caught up to us. "Where is Oliver?" My finger flew up to point at him as quickly as it usually did and I then proceeded to regret it immediately, like I usually did. She looked at me oddly. "Okay good, I need to flaunt the victory." She laughed, a little too much but I held it down to being a result of her drunkenness.

Griffith had gone and I was left alone watching PJ try and talk to Oliver. With his hands in his pockets I watched him smile politely at what she was saying. He caught my eye and we smiled at each other at PJ's expense until our smiles turned into grins, while an oblivious PJ kept talking. I had been stealing glances at Oliver all night, once in a while, he'd returned them and we'd smiled. It was nice. I thought back to earlier today when I had been anxious about shaking his hand. Like most things I worry about, the handshake had passed without much drama. I think we had both been uncertain of how to handle it and ended up not really meeting each other's eyes.

The celebration party had been a different story however. I still hadn't talked to him. I had initially hung out with my crew until they got drunk, which was the end of any chance at a longer conversation with anyone of them. I found that drunk people had a hard time being in one place for longer than a couple of minutes.

Instead I had wandered the room, having brief conversations with a number of people from different houses. Surprisingly a lot of Slytherins had come to the party, which I was happy with. Oliver seemed to have done the same, but we had rotated the room on different courses. And whenever I'd spotted him in a conversation, he'd seemed relaxed. He'd seemed like he was enjoying himself. It was all too odd.

"Damn." PJ broke my thoughts. She was back by my side. "Oliver is really cool now, he even laughed." She stated confused. "What did you do to him Will?" She joked and elbowed me on my side, an uncharacteristic thing for PJ to do. Again, I blame it on the drinks she'd had.

"Hey." Bianca said, suddenly being beside us with Wright by her side. "Did you guys see Oliver? He seems suspiciously… cheery." She furrowed her brows.

"Guys." I calmed them. "Maybe he's just not that upset about the results." I reasoned. "I mean, it's not like he could have done much about what happened."

"Yeah, he couldn't really have seen that coming I guess." PJ agreed. "It was quite shocking."

We all stood in silence for a while and before I knew it they had all gone as quick as they'd all arrived. I decided instead upon looking around for Graham, whom I hadn't seen in a while. I ventured into the crowds, but soon found that I had underestimated them and they were far too great for little old me. I didn't think I'd ever seen the Hufflepuff common room that crowded. Not to throw shade at my own house, but it's not like we usually had victory-parties.

"Too many people?" A voice that didn't belong to Graham but instead Oliver asked. I had apparently looked quite uncomfortable while trudging through the masses I realised and for the first time tonight I faked a smile at Oliver. We made our way to a less crowded part of the room.

"Congratulations." Oliver said once we were standing still. "You won. Fair and square." I searched his features. He didn't seem to be holding any resentment and his voice was polite. He was even smiling a little.

"Your seeker fell from the sky." I argued.

He furrowed his brows, features suddenly becoming reflective for a second. "Still, you were good." He said with a bring-back of his cheerier tone.

"Yeah, thanks. You too." We stood still, letting the conversation be taken over by the loud sounds coming from all around us.

"This isn't you." I broke the silence. My voice had come out light-hearted. "You're so civil, so… reasonable." I hoped as I said it that he wouldn't take offence.

Here I was hoping not to offend Oliver Wood. Life changes in the oddest of ways.

"Yeah well." He hesitated, still with a smile on his face, that genuine one that I liked. "You should have seen me an hour ago." He bit his lip like he felt embarrassed.

I laughed. Was he being insecure? Really?

"I… The Weasley twins had to drag me out of the showers." He looked at me through his brows as if the sun had blinded him. "But!" He continued. "I am okay now. I'm trying to be a… good sport." He said while I tried to hold back a growing smile, it was hard. I felt weird inside.

"I… appreciate that." We then smiled dumbly at each other for a good while.

"You stand out." He broke the silence by saying.

"Really?" I looked down at myself. "I didn't dress up."

"Yes. That's why you stand out." He said with a very prominent Scottish accent and a roll of his eyes, like it was obvious. His Scottish-ness would usually alternate between being really thick and barely noticeable.

"You know what Oliver? Maybe we should be friends from now on. How does that sound?" I didn't know where the proposition came from, but I felt we needed to make it official.

Oliver looked surprised at my proposition, he hesitated and for a moment and I began to contemplate if he still didn't want to be my friend. "That… sounds good." He agreed and before I could say anything else he said, "I should get back to my friends." And left me alone.

"Goodbye friend." I wondered if he was upset by something, but cast the thought to the side when I saw my friends approaching me.

"We're going to play the betting game!" They all said simultaneously. Except for Wright who was busy dancing. She danced like she wasn't paying attention to anything but the music.

"Great!" I replied enthusiastically while eyeing Wright with a questioning look. I was henceforth determined to enjoy this party like everyone else already had been up until now. To show my friends that I could indeed also be fun in that way.

We began playing the betting game. But before I move onto that part there is something that needs to be explained.

Bianca.

Bianca had this thing where she thought she knew everything. She thought she knew what was going on in every situation, when in reality she didn't have a clue. Most of the time this didn't hurt anyone, some of the time she was even right. At those times it wasn't really a problem. Sometimes however, she believed she knew more about people's business than they knew themselves, which lead to her feeling the need to intervene. This could be exceptionally destructive at the times where she was dead wrong about her so-called "intuition".

One of her intuitions was about Graham and I being in love with each other. PJ would have called it "skinny love".

Bianca would typically make obvious remarks about us. She would take any chance to point out something positive about Graham. If I said I liked boys with dark hair, she'd remark on Graham having dark hair. She would utter things like, "You're so cute!" if we sat together and "Get a room!" if we were being nice to one another.

Tonight was no exception.

"Willow!" Alicia called. I smiled warmly at her as we approached the small gathering of people sitting closely huddled together in a corner of the room. I saw Angelina and Alicia there, Graham and his friends from Slytherin and the rest of my team except for Cedric, who was probably hanging out with much cooler people.

"You're going to play with us?" Alicia asked when I sat down next to her. She smelled of a really nice perfume, Alicia was constantly in a cloud of nicely scented perfume, which I loved.

"Of course I am." I answered. "You smell really nice."

"I was just about to say you smell really nice!" Alicia almost shouted at me, only to then lean in far too closely to smell me. I could already tell that most of the people I was currently in the company of where more than tipsy. A notion, which made me feel oddly limited in this particular game, compared to everyone else. This was a game of bravery, something of which I lacked in comparison to the others who had been pouring fire whiskey down their throats.

"You smell amazing! Like coconut, I think!" Alicia continued happily. Angelina then also leaned in to sniff me.

"Alright guys, we got Will here, now can we get on with the game?" Wright snapped. Apparently no longer mindlessly dancing.

Angelina turned facing Wright who seemingly had appointed herself as the leader of the game. "Why can't we just play the normal games like 'truth or dare' or 'never have I ever'? She pleaded.

"There isn't an as prevalent element of gamble to those games." Wright explained simply.

"And the added element of chance is good?" She didn't seem to comprehend our reasoning.

I laughed. "I find it funny how blatantly obvious it is that you are on the Gryffindor Quidditch team." I teased her.

Angelina sat back with some faint shame adorning her face. "It makes it harder to play strategically." She defended.

"That's the point." PJ explained. "Less control and all the more fun!"

The game broke out. Angelina and Alicia were reluctant but everyone else seemed intrigued as to what the game of bets had to offer. Others, like my dear Hufflepuff mates, appeared eager to broadcast how incredibly mad and ridiculous the game could get. I myself, felt eager to appear somewhat aloof. I was keen to prove that I could do wild things and not care. But to my disappointment, I was never picked. Was it because my friends wanted the people who had never played to get the full experience they had invested in? Or was it, as I feared — that they assumed I wouldn't come through given the lack of magically tainted beverages in my system.

We moved around across the common room, through the crowds, another fun element to this game — one is constantly on the move as all the dares are physical. We did manage to get some onlookers after another crazy stunt or two. People joined, people followed only as groupies, things were escalating.

"Odds 1-10 for Hamish to duel a seventh year!"

"Odds 1-3 for Jason to fly across the room on his broom!"

"Odds 1-4 for Quentin to drink five glasses of fire whiskey!"

"Odds 1-2 for Willow to kiss Graham!"

Everyone stopped to look at me, see how I would react. It was Bianca who spoke. Wright and PJ were looking at her like she was about to be hit by the Whomping Willow, or maybe another Willow. I however, was looking at Bianca in disbelief. Disbelief she had picked that dare, disbelief she had given me those odds.

"Not being merciful with the odds either, giving her 50/50!" A voice that I soon came to learn belonged to Edwin, Graham's friend. I dared take a look at Graham, who met me with concern. Concern, which Edwin on Graham's right didn't seem to share. He was holding onto Graham, looking as happy as ever for his friend. Quentin on Graham's left however, was looking angrily at me. What I derived from this was that Quentin seemed to still believe that I was somehow leading Graham on, and they were both still stuck in the picture that depicted an in love Graham, with me.

I shot my, up until this point, platonic comrade who I only did platonic things with a sorrowful glance. Before I unwillingly faced Bianca again. "Start counting." I ordered. It was surprisingly quiet around the group. Bianca looked as if she was supposedly feeling some mild regret at the action she had taken, and mostly the reaction she had got. But she did count, and everyone joined in as loud as they could.

As one can imagine, both Graham and I shouted the same number, to our joint doom. We looked at each other as we did with remorse. Graham stood still while everyone waited in anticipation. And only to prove what I wanted proven, I walked up to him along the diameter of the circle that had gathered. Being the bravest I had ever been, I took his face in my hands and kissed him. To everyone's surprise, especially Graham's, I hung on to the kiss. I kissed him deeper, causing him to grab my hips mindlessly. We stood like that, letting out tongues do some work on each other. Everyone cheered, which made me feel disgusted at the whole ordeal. But I didn't stop kissing him, I didn't want to appear stiff, didn't want to ruin the fun.

When I released Graham, I remained expressionless. In fact I did my best not to look at him at all.

14 October 2018

A/N: Did you like/dislike anything about this chapter? Please let me know!