And had McGonnagall ever expected this? No! Because she never ever in all her years of serving to Hogwarts would have expected to find a teacher and a studenr sharing a kiss. Neither had they expected to be caught.
"what in Merlin's name is going on here?!"she asked furiously "you Oliver? I never thought you would molest students!"
"Professor MCGonnagall you don't understand, it's not like that!"Oliver tried to explain but McGonnagall ignored him and turned to Luna
"and you, Mrs Lovegood! nreakign school rules and do this!"she exclaimed to a distressed Luna
Oliver looked at Luna worriedly and then at McGonnagall's eyes, yet she was more hurt than mad, the Oliver Wood she knew would never disappoint her like this.
"Professor McGonnagall, please don't expell Luna, her year is almost over and..."Oliver sighed "if there's anyone to blame, it's me, it's all my fault, fir me but please don't take it on her" he begged but Luna shook her head
"no! Professor McGonnagall please don't fire Oliver, fail me if you wish, I'll take the grade again!"Luna exclaimed
"stop it! I don't wanna hear you,any fo you!"McGonnagall yelled "severe measures will be taken, but we will not fire or expell any fo you, but you have to call it off, finish this or I'll swear you'll be gone before you can say 'magic'!"McGonnagall sighed thoughtfully "and risking my job, I won't tell Professor Dumbledore but you Mrs Lovegood will be removed from the quidditch team, you were already surpassing the amount of players anyway, and I'm sure Mr. Longbottom will take the place happily. Now Luna, you come with me, and Oliver" she said and turned to him "I don't want any more of this behavior" she warned and took Luna by the arm, but Oliver stopped her
"Professor McGonnagall"he said
"yes?"
"why are you not telling Professor Dumbledore?"he asked stranged
McGonnagall blinked and replied "because Mr. Wood, az bizarre as this may sound, I have faith in you, you're still the best keeper I've ever seen and one of the most valuable students I've ever had" she said and finally led Luna to the exit not before the latter exchanged a sad and preoccupied look with Oliver.
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A couple of months after the incident the lifes of Luna, Oliver and Zick were a mess; first, Luna was left behind in Astronomy, her new course, and her telescope was broken so whenever she had to see Mars all she saw were two irregular lines and a small red dot.
Oliver couldn't handle the team anymore, and I mean any team, not the Gryffindor team, the Slytherin team, the Hufflepuff team and less the Ravenclaw team, and the only person who was able to listen to him was Katie, who would soon leave for a Congress about Quidditch in Taiwan.
And Zick felt like the worst jackass in the whole universe, Luna refused to talk to him after what he did and he couldn't get anyone to believe that he never meant for it to happen! Just Reva seemed a bit compassionate of his situation but the others practically erased him from their lifes, and why the hell did he care!
He tried to talk to Luna at the library but she built a wall of books between them, he tried to talk to her at the Ravenclaw common room but she just turned her back on him with her chair, he even tried at breakfast but she ate quickly and then excused herself from the table saying she was feeling dizzy, he knew she wasn't feeling dizzy. Zick was going mad, and he knew he ahd to do something or Luna would hate him forever, and he never thought that he'd do what he did. Seeing how miserable Oliver and Luna were and how bossy McGonnagall turned on them, watching them all the time and not allowing any interaction, he set them up, yes in a date, yes, to get back together,and yes, he wasn't particularly enjoying it.
He told Oliver that and important quidditch trainer was coming to Hogwarts and that he had to receive him at the quidditch pitch in 45 minutes, and Reva helped Zick by telling Luna that she saw a faun running on the quidditch pitch the night before, and they were all set.
Oliver and Luna had decided to avoid any contact and ignore their misery, even if sometimes Oliver wandered inside the astronomy tower hoping to see the students taking class and even if Luna glanced at the quidditch pitch once in a while to see if the class was going well.
Inside the quidditch pitch Zick saw Oliver looking for someone ,and then he saw Luna running inside makinge a strange noise.
Oliver saw Luna and Luna saw Oliver and they stopped doing what they were doing because for the first time in a long time they were looking at eachother.
Neither talked...
...or moved.
And Zick appeared between them
"well, come on you forbidden lovers, oliver there's no quidditch trainer and Luna...I still don't believe fauns exist, or at least not here"Zick said "you're obviously miserable and need to talk, so talk" he finished and left wanting to throw up already.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know really, I'm just gonna go"Oliver said but Luna called his name
"Oliver"
Luna thought well of what she was going to say
"I guess I just wanted you to know that despite everything, despite this 73 days, 18 hours, 22 minutes and probably 47 seconds we've been apart, I still love you" she blurted out in that uncomfortable way of saying truths all the time of hers
"Luna, we can't"Oliver said tormented by own words "I just really wish we could but right now we can't, have faith in me, because I'm not known for giving up and I won't give up on you"
Oliver couldn't stay , he kissed Luna's cheek and left the pitch, but he left Luna with a promise, a faint promise, yet that was enough to make her smile again.
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