Innocent Words
Author: Captain Cornflake
Chapter Nine: I Love You…
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~*DISCLAIMER*~
I do NOT own Harry Potter, all credit goes J.K Rowling and thanks to PuddlemereChaser for letting me steal your ideas (j/k). PS I own Emilia.
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The morning after the Yule Ball, many 6th and 7th years woke up with pounding headaches plus the worst hangovers ever.
Thankfully, hangovers were much more easily cured in the wizarding world.
Alicia, when returning to the dorm at 3am, had to stop herself from laughing out loud when she saw who had ended up in bed together. Katie and George, yeah you saw that one coming, but the biggest shock of all though, was Oliver and Emilia.
Sunrise the following day, Emilia woke up and immediately put her hand to her forehead, willing the pounding pain in her head to stop.
Wood stirred next to her, turned over and murmured.
"Morning gorgeous"
He sat up and kissed her shoulders, then wrapped his arms around her elbows and rested his cheek on her head.
"Mmm…geroff" she giggled, wrestling him off her.
He lay back, grinning in defeat.
"Right stud, you have to go now" smiled Em, passing Oliver his discarded trousers.
"I know, I know, can I lend your other broom, just so I don't get seen."
"What are you gonna do?"
"I'm gonna go out the window"
"What?!? Are you nuts?" she hissed
"No, I've done it before, it's actually quite fun"
"Ok, ok but be careful with it, it's my Nimbus"
"I will, and I'll send it back in one piece"
"Alright, but you better hurry up, before the others get up."
Wood proceeded to hastily pull his clothes on, open the window, mounting Emilia's Nimbus 2000 on the ledge, he held her hand, kissed her on the lips, whispered a quick goodbye, and he was gone.
Emilia sighed, sank back from standing on her toes, holding the edge of the open window. She subconsciously twisted a finger around the strap of the nightdress she had pulled on, as Oliver became a dot on the watery rising sun.
"Did you have fun last night?" called Angelina, pulling her duvet up around her shoulders.
Em spun around on her heels, stared blankly at Angelina for a second and then broke into a blushing smile.
"So, What happened?"
She gave her a look as if to say 'You know what happened'.
Gasping and putting a hand to her mouth, Angelina squealed:
"You didn't!"
Grinning cheekily at her, Em sank back into her bed and sighed…
"Last night was the most incredible night of my life"
They chatted about the previous nights events, until George woke up and scarpered next door to the boys dorm.
8am came, and everyone went to breakfast, all the tables were back in place, disguising the fact that there had been a party there last night.
After breakfast, Emilia decided to go to the library to start her Potions holiday essay.
While browsing through 'Most Potente Potions' and making notes on 'Polyjuice Potion: Friend or Foe?', a familiar figure sat down across from her.
"Starting already?" he asked
"Yep, I've got nothing else better to do"
"Where'd you disappear to last night?"
"Cedric, it's none of your business"
"I just wondered, I missed you"
Em looked a little shocked and surprised.
"You did?"
"Yeah, look can we talk, somewhere else?"
She looked over his shoulder, where Madam Pince was keeping a hawk like glare fixed on them.
"Ok, lets go" she whispered, picking up the notebook she had been writing on.
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Cedric led her outside and sat her down on a stone bench.
"I'm still in love with you"
Looking down at the grass between her feet in guilt, Emilia looked at him, she could feel a lump rising in her throat.
"Cedric, I- I'm with Oliver now"
He looked at her with very hurt eyes.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered, tears filling her eyes.
He stared at the ground and sighed in sadness.
Em went to walk away, but Cedric grabbed her wrist, she turned slowly, he was now standing.
"You know, I don't think I'll ever love another woman."
She looked at him, trying her hardest to fight back the tears. He put a hand around her left shoulder, and slowly pulled her into him. Em looked deep into his eyes, knowing what was coming.
He lowered his head to her height and kissed softly on the lips. She responded, hoping she'd be able to find that she still had some feelings for him, but she didn't.
She pulled away and let waves of tears fall down her reddening face. Emilia looked at Cedric, her vision blurred with saltwater.
"I'm sorry, I-I can't do this."
She turned and walked away, back towards the Gryffindor tower, her shoulders heaving with unshed tears.
Cedric stood still where he was, looking after Emilia, with a forlorn expression forming on his handsome face.
"Shit!" he cursed, slapping his fist into the stone column behind him.
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Back in the Gryffindor tower, Emilia threw herself into a chair near the fire, wrapped her arms around her knees, and rested her chin on her folded hands.
Katie swept into the room, looking a little flustered.
"Oh there you are" she panted, " I just went to the library to find you, and you weren't there, and I went looking for you, and I…"
Emilia looked up at her friend, with the frolicking flames of the fire reflecting in er glassy eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Cedric told me he's still in love with me"
"Oh, what did you say?
"Wait, there's more, he kissed me too"
"Oh jeez. Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine, I couldn't do it."
"What? Kiss him back?"
"Yeah, I tried, but I couldn't, I just felt so bad, I felt like I was stringing him along"
"You felt bad for last night?"
"Exactly"
Katie kneeled down in front of her friend, and pulled her into a reassuring hug.
"I'm gonna go back to the library and finish this essay..." she sniffed.
"Ok, do you want me to go with you?"
"No, it's ok, I'll be fine"
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When Oliver made it back to the team house, the other guys were already up.
"Wahey! The wanderer returns!" exclaimed Jason as the missing Keeper strode in.
"What happened to you last night?" said Ian swigging a cup of coffee.
Propping Em's broom up against the cupboard underneath the stairs, Oliver ignored him and walked into the kitchen to make himself some coffee.
"Dude, hello? What happened?"
"Last night was awesome" said Wood, subconsciously stirring the steaming cup in front of him.
"You didn't…. you know?" inquired Sam
Looking at the expression on his, Ben slapped him on the back, shook his hand and laughed…
"Good for you man!"
Oliver sighed happily and took a mouthful of his drink.
"You had sex with her?" sounded a shocked Ben.
"Yeah, mutual thing, I didn't force her or nothing"
"That's- that's cool man" said Will
"I think I'm falling for her"
That last remark caused the whole room to fall silent. Looking at their disbelieving expressions, Oliver said:
"What? Like it's a crime?"
"No, it's not that, you've just never admitted to being in love with anyone before" said Sam, staring at his love-struck friend.
"Yeah, but I've never felt like this before"
"Have you told her?" asked Ian.
Looking vacantly out of the window, he whispered…
"No"
"Well tell her, owl her now" said Ben, thrusting a quill into Oliver's hand.
"No, I've got a better idea, I'll mail her on Christmas Day"
"Aaaawwww, that's so sweet" laughed Sam
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The four days between the Yule Ball and Christmas passed uneventfully, except for the whole Cedric incident.
Christmas Day arrived, and surprisingly enough, the sixth years were among the first people up, especially in Gryffindor house.
The Weasley twins gave their respective girlfriends their presents. Fred got Angelina a new scarf, which reflected a snowy sky, and George got Katie a large packet of sugar quills and a bottle of colour changing ink.
When Emilia appeared in the common room, dressed in thick blue pyjamas, a navy dressing gown and fluffy sky blue slippers, her roommates greeted her with their usual cheer.
Around the sofa where the sixth years sat, Em noticed that was a few wrapped presents remaining with her name on the tags. Cheering up instantly, she sat down on the rug in front the aforementioned sofa.
Turning over the first tag, she smiled and untied the ribbon holding the box. The tag read: Merry Christmas love, have a great time, from Mum and Dad.
Lifting the top off the box, Em gasped and squealed in delight, it was a tiny tabby kitten. Picking the wriggling feline from its four-walled prison, she smiled and proclaimed.
"I'm gonna call you Aurora"
There was a large present, which turned out not to be a present at all, it was just Oliver returning her Nimbus. Propped up against it, was a small gift with FRAGILE written on it, and there was an envelope rested against that.
Slowly and carefully, she peeled off the shimmering wrapping. Inside was a picture frame, in which was a picture of herself and Oliver at the Yule Ball, he had an arm around her waist, as did she around his.
Em smiled and blushed at the memory of that night.
Apprehensively, she broke the seal on the envelope at her feet, and slid the folded parchment out.
Her eyes drifted down the page until she saw the words 'Dear Emilia…' She concentrated on the first two words for a second, and then continued.
I hope you liked your present, I know I liked mine, thanks.
Look, there's no easy way to say this, but I'm being forced by the guys to write this. I'm…. I think, I'm falling for you, literally.
She reeled backwards slightly and read on.
I appreciate it if you don't feel the same way, but I had to tell you, or I would have felt really bad for the rest of my life.
Hermione appeared, greeted everyone and asked what Em was reading.
"Oliver wrote me a letter" she explained, briefly waving the parchment in Hermione's direction.
"What's it say?" said Hermione, noticing the shocked expression on Emilia's face.
"It um…he said…he's in love with me"
"Oh wow! That's so great" squealed Angelina, practically choking Fred in the process.
"Yeah, it is" sighed Em, dumbfounded.
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For the next few days, Oliver and Cedric's words plagued Emilia's mind. She was being torn between two men she had strong feelings for.
By New Years Eve, Oliver was getting worried that he hadn't heard anything back from Em. He was panicking that he had scared her off.
But at 12 noon that day, while sitting at the kitchen table gazing out of the window. Wood noticed a fluffy dot heading towards the house. When the dot came closer, he saw that it was Harry's owl, Hedwig. The snowy bird landed on the windowsill and tapped on the glass, impatient to be in.
He opened the window, and Hedwig hopped on to the kitchen table, dropped an envelope, shook her feathers and looked expectantly at Oliver.
"In a minute" he said, sitting down and opening the envelope.
Scanning the page very quickly, a grin formed on his previously depressed face.
The letter read:
Thank you for returning my broom in one piece, I appreciate it. As for that declaration of yours, well what to say? I love you too, very much, and by the way, I loved the picture.
"Yes!" he exclaimed, punching the air.
He gave Hedwig a little piece of the toast he had been eating and she flew away into the snowy sky.