CHAPTER 24

Both girls split the bottle of champagne and were almost to the end of it. Gen cursed herself silently because she hadn't planned on getting too drunk at the party, considering that she was here with Oliver's parents. But it had come to this - sharing a bottle with an old enemy and new friend - which of course called for champagne. They sat across from each, Alicia's back against the wall, wedged between the wall. Her legs were folded to fit in the space between the wall and guest bed. Gen had curled up similarly, a few feet down from Alicia as they passed the champagne bottle back and forth.

"I've got to say, I'm surprised to see you're not playing for Puddlemere," Alicia shared, taking a drink from the bottle. "There's not much left. We may have to get another." She tossed the bottle from one hand to the other.

Gen shook her head, "No, no, really,, I can't. I wasn't even planning on getting this drunk."

Alicia shrugged, "Is it an engagement party if SOMEONE doesn't get a little too drunk?" she asked. Gen laughed in response.

"In regards to playing pro… well, I guess it just wasn't in my heart. And I uhm… well I had quite a tumultuous couple of years during the war. There was no way I could focus on playing quidditch," Gen explained.

"With that, I've got to finish this bottle," Alicia said, rolling her eyes. She raised the champagne bottle to her lips again, taking a big swig, finishing off the bottle.

"What?!" Gen exclaimed, curious as to why it had bothered the girl that sat across from her.

"It's just not fair!" Alicia grumbled, drunkenly.

"What?" Gen asked.

"That you have all of that talent and you just threw it away!" she replied.

"I didn't throw it away!" Gen protested.

"You could've gone pro if you had wanted to. But you didn't. Such a damn waste," Alicia muttered, bitterly.

"It's not a waste! Not if my talents lie elsewhere," Gen shot back. "And, well, I'm damn good at what I do. I can mix a healing potion like no other and it's been good for the team to have all kinds of healing balms and salves for recovery. Plus I know the game and what it's like to be an athlete. I can heal and lead conditioning trainings from the athlete perspective."

"Sorry… I just can't believe I spent my whole quidditch career competing with you and you didn't even TRY to make it to the League," Alicia said, almost chastising herself.

Gen shrugged, "Just because it was YOUR dream doesn't mean it was mine. And now you're playing for the Falcons so what does it matter?"

"I guess that's fair," Alicia agreed.

"See that's the real waste! That we spent all those years disliking each other when clearly all we needed was a bottle of champagne to smooth over this misunderstanding," Gen pointed out.

"Oh come off it. What was school without a rival in sport?" Alicia teased, pointing out a very real fact. It had made school much more interesting for both girls.

"True. You did always motivate me to get more creative… you know… to be better than you," Gen shot back, playing along with the joke. Alicia snorted with laughter in response. "I like you. I think, well, I think maybe we should be friends."

"Alright," Alicia said in agreement, crossing her arms over her chest.

There was a long silence between the two women where they just sat, letting the previous conversation set in. Never in a million years could Alicia picture herself sitting next to Genevieve Zhao but here she was. And she didn't hate it. And she could see herself being friends with the woman sitting next to her.

"So…" Gen said, breaking the silence. "I'm gonna need to hear about this kiss."

"Oh it was nothing," Alicia groaned, regretting saying anything about it earlier.

"You must! I insist. Oliver doesn't talk much in detail about the people he's dated in the past," Gen pleaded.

Alicia chuckled, "Yeah, sounds like Oliver. Before I do, it truly wasn't that - you know, dating or anything."

"'S alright. Go on," Gen encouraged.

Alicia sighed out in defeat knowing she'd have to tell the story, "It's silly really. We had just won the Quidditch Cup my fifth year…"

~ FLASHBACK ~

"Gryffindor! Gryffindor! Gryffindor!" everyone in the common room, including the team cheered. Oliver held up the house cup, letting out a long winded cheer. He had worked his whole quidditch career at Hogwarts for this moment and it was finally here.

Alicia looked to her quidditch captain happy yet relieved that he had achieved his dream here. He had been quite the tyrant since he took over for Charlie Weasley and she was glad to have a summer without stressing out about Wood owling her and the rest of the team all summer long.

The night consisted of celebrations and congratulations, the entire Gryffindor common room aflame with pride and joy. As the night wound down, the twins had roped some of the remaining people, including Alicia into a game of spin the bottle. She had hesitantly accepted, only someone had snuck firewhiskey into the party, so her inhibitions were starting to lower. The game had carried on with some unsuspecting pairings and Alicia hadn't had to kiss anyone until.

"Oi! Oliver, leave Harry alone and come join us for a spin!" Fred shouted over the noise, grabbing Oliver's attention. He had cornered Harry in the common room for a long winded speech on training practices he could do over the summer. Potter had been the best seeker Gryffindor had seen in a while and he didn't want Harry to lose momentum - even if he were no longer captaining the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"What?" Oliver asked. He hadn't paid any attention to what was going on as he was deep in conversation. George nodded for Harry to leave for this was his OUT!

"C'Mon! Harry'll do great for us next year! Come take a spin," George said.

"Well, I-, ehm, I don't know if-," Oliver stammered, standing up from his place on one of the couches.

Alicia, seated in the circle, noticed Oliver walking over. He had been an absolute nightmare but under the haze of the alcohol she couldn't help but notice how handsome he really was. She swallowed, crossing her fingers that the bottle didn't fall on her, noting that she wouldn't completely mind.

"You really think Wood is down for this?" Angelina asked, nudging Alicia.

"Mr. No Fun? No way," Katie whispered, hoping the soon to be ex-captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team wouldn't hear her.

"This could go really well or really poorly," Alicia said.

"Here, this'll help," Fred said, rushing over to Oliver and handing him a shot. George followed behind for two more shots for the twins. "Bottoms up!"

Oliver hesitantly took the shot, throwing the shot glass back, pouring the liquor into his mouth. His face crinkled as the bitter alcohol hit his tongue, "Blimey, that's stuffs so-."

"Good? No way we're gonna let you leave Hogwarts without partying in true Gryffindor fashion," Fred interrupted. George pushed Oliver towards the table and with a flick of his wand, let the bottle spin.

The whole group of people watched as the bottle spun in quick circles stopping on none other than Alicia Spinnet. She looked up at the boy across from her whose face had practically turned white.

"Go on!" Fred encouraged.

"It's the game, man!" Katie called out.

"Wood, Wood, Wood, Wood!" the twins began to cheer. Oliver sighed and Alicia couldn't believe that he was considering it. He charged over to her, grabbing her face, and to her surprise, kissing her right on the mouth. The whole room erupted in cheers as none of them had seen this side of Oliver.

"Did you get what you want?" Oliver asked, turning to the twins. He blushed, turning his attention back to Alicia. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's quite alright," she said, blushing a little herself too.

~ END FLASHBACK ~

"What a sweet bloke. Couldn't even kiss you without apologizing," Gen chuckled in response to Alicia's story thinking about her dreamy boyfriend.

"Sweet is not the word I'd use to describe Wood," Alicia said, skeptically. "Though he is an alright kisser."

"Oh yes, something tells me that he's gotten much better since school. I can vouch for that," Gen smirked, eliciting another laugh from Alicia.

"Though I always did have a little crush on Cedric Diggory," she shared.

"So dreamy," Gen added.

"It's so sad… you know, what happened to him," Alicia said, concluding their thoughts on Cedric.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you. Gen what have you-, oh. Hi, Alicia," Oliver said, interrupting the conversation.

"My love!" Gen cried, standing up, a little less coordinated than when she had sat down and sauntered over him. She pulled him into her and kissed him passionately.

"Oh," Alicia sounded. "Do you guys-, you want the room or-?"

"Genevieve," Oliver said, surprised as he pulled away from the kiss. "Are you drunk?"

"Just a little," she giggled. "We were just talking about what a good kisser you are." Oliver's face went from his normal complexion to beet red as he heard the words come out of his girlfriend's mouth. He looked to Alicia.

"'S a long story," she shrugged innocently.

"What exactly happened?" Oliver asked.

"You could say…" Gen trailed off.

"We buried the hatchet," Alicia replied.

"So we're sorta friends now," Gen said, gleefully.

"One bottle of champagne later," Alicia added.

Oliver looked from both girls a little confused and just laughed, not sure if asking any more questions would be wise of him.

"Alright, my love. Are you ready to go? Mum and Dad are tired and I think they'd like to leave," Oliver asked.

"Sure," Gen agreed, regretting just how drunk she let herself get. "Let me sober up just a little so I don't look like a fool in front of your parents."

Oliver chuckled, "Alright. How about we get some of that fresh air we talked about and I'll get you a glass of water on the way? I guess it's ehm, nice to see you two… getting along." Alicia smiled. He grabbed Gen's hand, not knowing just how much guidance she'd need to balcony. "See you at the reserves game in a few weeks, Liss."

"See you, Oliver," she said back. "And ehm, it was actually nice, uh… seeing you, Geneveive."

"You too, new friend!" Gen called out as Oliver was guiding her out of the door to the spare bedroom.

"What am I gonna do with you?" Oliver asked, chuckling to himself. He found his girlfriend endearing. She wasn't a sloppy drunk. She just became ten times more affectionate.

"Well you could kiss me for starters," Gen replied. Oliver stopped, just outside of the bedroom that they had come from and pressed her against the wall.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Oliver asked, daring her just a bit. She nodded and he couldn't help himself. No one was around but it wouldn't have made a difference if they were here or in the middle of the party. He kissed her right then and there, not worried about his parents or anyone else seeing.