"And here are the Gryffindors!" Ella heard Lee's voice boom out over the stadium, and her hand started to quake in Katie's. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Stirling, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years —" Ella heard loud booing from the Slytherin side and rolled her eyes. Lee introduced the Slytherin team, but Ella had tuned out and was trying to focus on the game. She had to admit, not having Jackson here in her corner made her a bit nervous for some reason.
She saw Oliver and Marcus "shake hands," and before she knew it, they were off and playing. "And it's Gryffindor in possession, Ella Stirling of Gryffindor with the Quaffle," Lee's voiced echoed as Ella raced over the pitch, "heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Ella!" Ella's heart thundered as she neared the posts but then Warrington somehow intercepted her and she lost the Quaffle, fury burning inside her. But her rage was slightly sated (and her heart thundered just a bit more) as George smacked a Bludger right into Warrington.
"Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina —" Yes, come on, Angelina! "Nice swerve around Montague — duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!" Ella flew as fast as she could to help defend Angelina. "SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Ella felt relief flood her chest, but it wasn't over yet, and she and Katie high-fived as they zoomed past each other, but their joy was soon turned to outrage as Flint very deliberately tried to knock Angelina off her broom. And before George could stop him, Fred was throwing his Beater's club at the back of Flint's head, causing his face to hit his broom and his nose to start bleeding.
"That will do!" Yelled Madam Hooch, flying between them. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!
"Come off it, Miss!" Fred howled, but Ella hit him upside the head.
"Will you shut up before you make it worse, Fred? Merlin!" Ella said exasperatedly as Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Ella flew forward to take the penalty.
"Come on, Ella!" Lee yelled into the silence. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"
When Ella flew back to her team, swamped with high fives and slaps on the back, she heard Fred whisper as he rubbed where Ella had hit him, "George, that was a beautiful penalty shot, but please, control your woman," and Ella had to refrain from snatching the club out of his hand and beating him with it.
The game continued on quite smoothly until Montague, a Slytherin Chaser, purposefully grabbed Katie's head instead of the Quaffle. Katie was hurled into the air and stayed on her broom, thank goodness, but unfortunately dropped the Quaffle.
The shrill screech of Madam Hooch's whistle pierced the air once again and she soared over to Montague and began yelling at him. Within the next minute, Katie had scored another penalty shot for Gryffindor.
The game quickly turned into one of the dirtiest that Ella had ever played. Penalties (most of which going to Gryffindor) were flying every which way and minor injuries popped up every few minutes. Even Harry had pulled out some stops and caused the two Slytherin Beaters to run right into each other. If Ella hadn't been so focused and hell-bent on beating Slytherin, she would have laughed. Not soon after, Bole, one of the Slytherin Beaters, hit Ella with his club and tried to play if off by saying he thought she was a Bludger. George was furious and elbowed Bole in the face, which caused Ella to see George Weasley in a whole new light.
The match continued, and Malfoy had brought on a penalty by literally grabbing Harry by the broom and trying to pull him away from the Snitch. It was such a dirty move that McGonagall didn't even stop Lee from yelling at him but instead joined in. Ella wouldn't have been able to keep track of who was winning without Lee's (biased) commentary because her head was spinning from all of the chaos of this game.
Fairly soon, Ella saw Harry dive downwards and her heart skipped a beat. Had he seen it? Had Malfoy seen it? Who would get it? Would they finally win? Would Wood finally get his wish? She looked towards Harry completely when she heard screams from the crowd. He had done it! He had caught the Snitch! They won! We won!
Ella reached Harry after Oliver, Fred, and George. Her, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia, who had rushed out onto the field were repeatedly screaming, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!"
The entire team was hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd and Ella wished nothing more than for her brother to be here. He probably could have lifted both her and Angelina and each shoulder. But what she did see was Percy Weasley, jumping up and down, all dignity forgotten. Professor McGonagall was sobbing even harder than Oliver and wiping her eyes on a Gryffindor flag. Cedric was there, albeit keeping a safe distance from Ella, but still cheering for her and applauding wildly. Hagrid was yelling and stomping, practically making the ground shake, Ron and Hermione were beaming at Harry, and Juni and Cho were directly under her, smiling at her and cheering.
Ella watched as Oliver, who was sobbing uncontrollably, passed the Cup to Harry, and Harry held it proudly in the air. Ella had never seen the boy so happy and it made her heart swell.
Later, the Gryffindor locker room was probably the best place on earth to be at that very moment. There was happiness radiating off of every member of the team and they couldn't stop yelling and hugging each other. Despite all of the affection going around, Ella hadn't gotten a chance to hug George on his own yet, and she'd be damned if she didn't take that chance. They came face to face, well, face to chest due to the height difference, hesitated for a moment, and then slammed into each other like opposite poles of a magnet.
Ella was still soaked in sweat, dizzy, and breathless, but she couldn't remember a time when she had felt as good as she did now. Her face was buried in George's chest and she inhaled the pure scent of him and George's chin rested atop Ella's head, squeezing her tightly. They stayed like that for Merlin knows how long until Wood broke them up to pull Ella into a bone crushing hug. Ella and George were both a bit sour about it but decided to let it go in light of the situation. This was probably the best day of Wood's life thus far.
After everyone had returned to their dorms from the massive victory party that the Gryffindors had thrown in their common room, they all basically fell asleep upon contact with their pillows. Everyone except for Ella. She held too much excitement, too much adrenaline still coursing through her veins. There was absolutely no way she was getting to sleep anytime soon. So, she decided to sneak back down to the common room to admire the House Cup one more time.
When she got down to the common room, Oliver was already there, sitting in front of the Cup and staring at if with as much love as if it were his firstborn child. "Hey," she said, "you're up late."
"Jesus!" Oliver yelped and covered his mouth in surprise. "Merlin, Ella, you scared me!"
"Really? I couldn't tell," Ella said, chuckling and sitting down next to Oliver on one of the plush red sofas. "Does it really hypnotize you that much?"
Oliver sighed dreamily. "You have no idea. I've dreamed of this ever since my first year. This is — this is the best day of my life, Ella."
"I can imagine," said Ella, resting her head on Oliver's broad shoulder. "I hope we can get along without you next year, Ollie. It's not gonna be the same without you."
"Nah," Oliver said, putting an arm around her and leaning back, taking Ella with him, "you guy'll be fine. I promise." They sat in silence, admiring the Cup for a few minutes before Oliver started laughing to himself.
"What?" Ella asked, and started laughing with when he didn't answer her. " What , Ollie?"
"I was just thinking, 'If George comes down here right now, he'd probably break my nose again.' I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that he's punched me over you."
"Wait, what? You can't be serious! When did that happen?"
"Pft," Oliver said, waving his hand casually, "it was last year. Didn't he tell you about that? It was the day you got petrified and didn't show up for a Quidditch match and when he got back to the common room later I called you and traitor and I was yelling and WHAM! He socked me right in the nose. Clean break."
"Oh god," Ella groaned, covering her face with her hands, "I'm so sorry. That's awful!"
"Not really," Oliver disagreed, "I kind of deserved it anyways. When's that gonna happen, by the way, you and George?"
Ella's eyes rolled. "I dunno, Ollie, when are you and Marcus gonna happen?"
"Can you keep a secret?"
Ella nodded profusely.
Oliver leaned down and whispered in her ear, "It's already happened."
"I knew it!" Ella said loudly, earning her a shushing from Oliver. "I fucking knew you were gay, you liar," she said more quietly this time. "How long has this been going on?"
"A couple months. Why do you think they play dirtier and dirtier every time we play them? I kept telling him that he didn't need to overcompensate but it was always, 'No, Wood, we can't let anyone know what's going on. We have to hide this.'" Oliver sighed. "And, I mean, he was right, we did, we still do, but he didn't need to almost kill half of my team, y'know?"
Ella's jaw was dropped, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had been right about Oliver all this time! "I can't believe this! And are you like, happy together?"
"Oh, yeah," Oliver said while nodding. "This is the happiest I've ever been in a long time. I know that Marcus is a little bitter over not winning the cup, but I know he's happy for me. He thinks it's cute how obsessed I am with Quidditch."
"But if you two are so happy together. . .why do you have to hide it so much?"
"Think about it, Ella. That would not go over well. Neither of us wants to spend our last few months of school being mocked mercilessly. Would you?"
"No," Ella sighed. "But that's just not fair! You guys deserve a right to be happy just as much as anybody else!"
"I know, Ella," Oliver said, "But it'll come in due time. Marcus always says that when we get out of school, that we won't have to hide it anymore. He says to hell with what anyone thinks after that, he says that he's going to show me off like the House Cup."
"Aww," Ella cooed, "that's adorable. You guys are adorable, even though Flint is a major twat sometimes."
Oliver laughed. "Yeah, you've got that right. He actually hates it, though, did you know that? He hates being such an arse to so many people, being one of Malfoys cronies. But if you heard the kind of pressure that his family puts on him," Oliver shuddered. "It's truly disturbing." They sat together in silence once more as the fire blazed in front of them, lighting up the Cup before Oliver spoke up again quietly. "I'm gonna miss you, Ella," he said, his voice shaking slightly.
"No, Ollie, don't," Ella said as she cuddled up to Oliver even more. "Don't you dare start crying. If you start crying then I'll start crying and it'll be a whole mess."
"I can't help it," said Oliver as he rubbed his eyes. "You're literally one of my favorite people in the school and I'm not gonna get to see you every day after this term. That sucks!"
"Yeah, but I'll come visit you! And you can come to matches!"
"I know," Oliver said, squeezing Ella tightly, "I'm just gonna miss it. I'm gonna miss you. Everybody, really. But you especially, Ella, you've changed me."
Tears had started to well in Ella's eyes now. "Ollie, I told you not to —"
"Let me finish. That's one of the things that I love about you. You call me Ollie. No one else does, not one single person. Just you. And I don't know, it just makes me feel really good. Like I mean something to you. You're like the little sister that I never got to have, and honestly, you're one of my best friends.
"I never would have been able to approach Marcus like I did this year if it hadn't been for you. I mean, yeah, you made a lot of jokes about it, but I never forgot all the times when you told me, 'It's okay, Oliver,' or 'Be yourself, Oliver.' That stuff really stuck with me, really made me think. And you showed me how to paint and you showed me how to play guitar. I've opened up because of you, Ella, and I just wouldn't feel right leaving Hogwarts without telling you that."
"Oh my god, Ollie," Ella said, burying her face into Oliver's chest. "I'm gonna miss you so much. Fuck the team, I don't know how I'm gonna get along without you next year."
"Don't worry about it, kiddo, you'll be just fine. I know it," Oliver said, planting a kiss on the top of Ella's head.
"So, if George does come down here and flips out because we're cuddling, does that mean that I get to tell him you're gay and rub it in his face that I was right all along?"
"Hell no!" Oliver said while laughing. "If he hears from anyone, it's going to be me."
And Ella and Oliver sat like that, cuddled on the couch, until the early hours of the morning. Oliver told her stories about him and Marcus, and Ella finally confessed that she had feelings for George. It felt good to actually say it to someone. To admit it. Not just to Oliver, but to herself. She had never imagined that when she met Oliver Wood, that he would leave such a permanent mark on her life.