Chapter Four...

Dear Oliver,

Under the following conditions I shall tutor you.

1. You must always arrive punctually to your lessons and you will TRY YOUR BEST during them!

2. You will always treat me with some form of respect whether we're in public or not. I do not ask you to be befriend me, I just don't want you to put me down in front of your friends and mine.

3. You must promise never to fall in love with me.

Sincerely yours,

Hermione

I grinned as I read the third rule listed. Yeah, like that was ever going to happen! I shook my head and folded the letter back up and placed it in my special box under my bed.

All right, so I suppose you're thinking, 'what sort of loser is this guy? He has a special box under his bed?' But shut up, I happened to really treasure my special box and nobody else even knew about it. It was my little secret and making sure nobody else was around to witness it, I pulled out the dust covered shoe box and carefully took off the lid.

It wasn't often that I placed items in my box. The items that did go in there were either really important to me or something I didn't want anyone else to say. Hermione's letter qualified in the latter. My plan was to just sit the letter on top of the other items but once I had snuck a peak at them, I couldn't help but lift them all out for another trip down 'memory lane'.

The first thing I picked up was a little golden snitch that my Dad had bought me at the first Quidditch game we'd been to together when I was very young. It had a rusty 'Puddlemere United' engraved on the side and I smiled as I remembered all the fun times we'd had together. Pushing any thoughts of Dad out of my mind though, I kept looking.

Next was a photo of my whole family together. There was Mum, whose long brown hair was swishing in the wind as she waved to the camera, and my older sister Elizabeth who was laughing at something Dad had said and of course there was Dad... he had his arm around me and we all looked extremely happy. I must have been only about five at the time and I could actually remember where we'd been when this photo had been taken. It was the last holiday my family had been on since... Dad passed away.

I almost felt a tear in my eye as I shoved the letter on top of the photo and put the box back where it had been. Oliver! I scowled myself. Don't cry, don't be such a wuss! Refusing to break my 'strong man' image, I forced the tear back and changed what I'd been thinking about. Quidditch. Had to think Quidditch.

Seeing as Hermione hadn't actually given me any times yet as when she wanted to tutor me I decided I'd make the most of my freedom of the day and have a bit of a good, long fly before my afternoon classes began. I pulled out my trusty broomstick and marched down the dormitory stairs and out of the common room, through the corridors, past Noel and Charlotte who looked like they'd finally given into their mutual attraction and out onto the Quidditch pitch.

"Ahhh..." I breathed in the good fresh air with a grin wider than a Fluppagus's wingspan (which is quite impressive I might add).

Pushing off the hard ground, I soared up into the air rising higher and higher until I was so high that even the Quidditch goal posts looked remarkably small.

Zooooooom! I flew around, taking in as much of the best feeling in the world that I could. I must have been up there for at least an hour, not once tiring, because before I knew it, my watch told me it was lunchtime and as I felt my stomach grumble, it seemed to agree.

Hesitating to come down but knowing I'd forever regret it if I didn't eat lunch, I slowly descended from the sky. Feeling more energetic than I had for awhile, I ran the rest of the way inside and sat down in my usual seat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

Lunch appeared and I scoffed down as much as I could. Luckily for me, I had flying classes after lunch so I'd need as much food as I could.

Percy, who was opposite me, remarked on my eating skills. "Gee Oliver, looks like you haven't eaten for weeks."

Besides Hermione, Percy was the only other person I knew who called me Oliver. Even my mum tended to call me Wood these days.

"He hasn't been," said Noel. "He's been too busy meeting with know-it-all Granger in the library," Noel joked, overhearing Percy and then proceeding to make kissy noises at me.

Even though Noel didn't know the truth, what he said really embarrassed me and I could feel my ears turn pink. Burrowing myself deeper in my bowl of soup I pretended I hadn't heard him.

"What classes have you got this afternoon Oliver?" asked Percy.

"Flying," I grinned.

"Excellent indeed," he replied. "I believe I have Advanced Arithmancy."

"Excellent," I responded, trying to sound enthusiastic for him. I could barely cope with normal Arithmancy let alone advanced!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hermione approaching the table.

"Oh no..." I muttered under my breath as I realised what she was doing. I glanced nervously at the empty seat next to me.

"What's the matter?" asked Percy, looking awfully concerned for me.

"Hi Oliver!" interrupted a bright and cheery looking Hermione.

Noel and Charlotte nearly spat their soup out.

"Hello Hermione," answered Percy, known for being polite to everyone.

"Hi," I said.

"Do you mind?" she asked, gesturing towards the empty seat.

"Of course not," I said, barely believing that this was me talking. Across from us, Noel and Charlotte were watching on in terror and in shock.

"So you read my letter?" asked Hermione, helping herself to a bread roll.

I passed the butter to her. "Yes I did and I agree to every condition."

"Good, the last one?"

"Especially the last one," I smiled.

This was all becoming far too much for Charlotte and she butted in. "Excuse me, but what is going on Wood?" she hissed. Noel looked ready to faint.

"What ever do you mean?" I asked Charlotte, innocently.

"Why is this twirp sitting here with us? And why did you let her?" she practically screeched.

"Because..." I began to say. Hermione looked at me with her big brown eyes and I forgot my hesitation completely. "Because she's my friend." I grinned at her.

Charlotte dropped her spoon. "I'm leaving," she said and in a huff, stormed off. Noel gave me a funny look that I couldn't quite determine before following her.

"I'm very proud of you," said Percy who'd been spectating with large interest. "Hermione, I like what you've done to Oliver."

Hermione smiled graciously. "Thank you Percy."

"Now, I have finished my lunch I must go and collect my Advanced Arithmancy books before I'm late for class."

"But Perce," I replied. "Lunch doesn't finish until another fifteen minutes."

"Ah," he said. "You never know what unexpected event might throw you off track."

Shaking my head in disbelief and amusement, I watched Percy stand up, push his chair in, replace his napkin to where it was and walking with his chest puffed out so his Head Boy badge would stand out, exited the hall.

"Thanks Oliver," said Hermione, when we were practically alone.

For the first time in her company, I gave a genuine smile. "You are so totally welcome."

* * * * *

Flying class as usual, flew by. Why was it that whenever I had something like Potions or Divinition the minutes ticked by so slowly that it felt like a lifetime before class was over and yet when it was flying class it seemed to be over in ten seconds?

I trudged back to the Gryffindor tower with a slightly stiff back and drooping eye lids. I barely noticed the poster up on the Gryffindor notice board that was surrounded by a crowd of people all wanting to see what was up there. It wasn't until I was up in the dormitory that Percy who was reading a huge, thick book looked up at me and remarked, "Isn't this splendid Oliver?" that I realised something was going on.

"What's splendid?" I asked.

"The ball," he replied casually.

I dropped my broomstick. "What ball?"

Percy smiled. "Too tired to even notice the flocking of students down there?" he asked.

I tried hard to remember what the common room had been like as I'd passed through it and vaguely remembered a bunch of excited students. "Uhh please elaborate..."

He sighed. "You miss far too much Oliver. There is a ball coming up, scheduled for two weeks from now to celebrate Hogwart's 763rd birthday and it's going to be all posh and fancy. Very formal and very exciting."

"763rd?" I asked.

Percy shrugged. "Apparently Professor Dumbledore likes that number."

"Oh fair enough, and what? Do we need dates or anything?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"

I nodded. I was beginning to get an idea of who I wanted to ask too.