Later that evening Oliver sat in his rooms, trying to decide what Lavinia,
Jack and Jill would have to do for their detentions the next day. While he
was thinking about it, there was a knock on his door and Adrianna and Fleur
burst into the room. Fleur was carrying large bottles of butterbeer and
Adrianna had the CD player that Dumbledore had helped her bewitch.
"Come on Oliver, it's Friday night! You can't just sit in your rooms and be bored all night!" said Adrianna. She turned on the CD player and put in a CD, and soon the sound of Nelly filled the room while they drank butterbeer. After a little while, Adrianna got up and started to dance. Fleur joined her shortly thereafter. Oliver was content to sit back and watch, but Fleur came over after a few minutes and pulled him up out of the armchair that he was sitting in.
"Wait a minute! Stop! I don't know how to dance!" he protested.
"I'll teach you then," Fleur replied with a coy smile. She placed his hands on her hips and put her arms around his neck and started dancing very close. Oliver had never danced with a girl like this before. Fleur was his friend, and he had never thought of her as anything more. In fact, he had never really thought about any girl romantically. She apparently was interested in him though, as she was coming on very strong.
"Fleur, stop," said Oliver, pulling away. "I'm not comfortable dancing with you like that."
He saw Adrianna look from one to the other, and then she muttered something about lesson plans and quickly left his rooms.
Fleur looked at Oliver as though he had just insulted her. "Oliver, I like you a lot. Surely you must feel ze same way."
"Look Fleur, I do like you. As a friend. But I'm not looking for a girlfriend right now. And even if I were, I don't think of you like that. You're just a friend to me."
"You don't think zat I'm attractive," she said, with the insulted tone in her voice and her eyes flashing with anger.
"No, that's not it at all! You're beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. How could you not be? You're part veela. But I don't feel any chemistry between us. We get along great as friends, but I honestly don't see it going further than that."
Fleur's anger seemed to subside a little. "I am sorry. I just assumed zat you would feel ze same way as I do. No boy 'as ever refused me before. I never expected to be rejected." A long awkward pause followed, as neither really knew what to say.
"Well, I'll just be off to bed zen," said Fleur. Her voice was still a little cold, but there was no longer anger flashing in her eyes.
"Goodnight," said Oliver.
She didn't reply as she opened the door and left him alone in his rooms. The next morning, Oliver decided that he needed to go and talk to Adrianna about being in the quidditch game with the team captains so that he could write to them and let them know what was going to happen. He walked down the hall to her rooms, still in his plaid pajamas.
He reached the bookshelf that served as a door and was about to call for Adrianna, but stopped at the sound of voices on the other side. He recognized them as Fleur and Adrianna. He was about to turn around and leave, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt if he listened in for a minute or two. After all, they would never know he was there. He listened for a few seconds, but suddenly he heard a low growl on the other side of the door and the conversation stopped.
"What's the matter, Chip?" he heard Adrianna say.
Suddenly he remembered that kneazles had an uncanny ability to recognize suspicious characters. The door swung open, and he was face to face with Adrianna. He was caught.
"Oliver! You were listening in on us, weren't you?" Adrianna asked accusingly.
"No, I swear I wasn't!" he lied. "I only wanted to ask you a question!"
"Then why was Chip growling at you?" Chip was now standing defensively in front of Adrianna, giving Oliver a threatening look.
"I really don't know! I just want to ask you something."
"Well I'm busy right now, it'll have to wait."
"When will you be unbusy?"
"I don't know!" she cried, exasperated. "I'll call for you through the fireplace when I'm finished talking with Fleur. Will you leave now?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I bothered you." Oliver turned and walked out of her office. "Stupid kneazle," he thought as he returned to his rooms to get dressed.
About an hour later, Oliver heard Adrianna's voice through the fireplace. "Oliver, I'm done talking to Fleur now if you want to come over."
Oliver climbed into the fireplace and soon emerged from Adrianna's fireplace. Chip was now lying comfortably on the rug right in front of the couch and didn't seem to mind that Oliver had just entered the room.
"Be honest with me. Were you spying earlier?"
"Well, I was going to. But I really didn't hear anything. Chip caught me before I had a chance."
"But you really do have a question for me?"
"Yeah. See, I talked to the quidditch team captains yesterday afternoon, and we all agreed to have a friendly 3 on 3 match before the start of the quidditch season. The only problem is, there are only 5 of us. So I was wondering if you might want to be the 6th person for our game."
"I'd love to. I haven't played quidditch since the World Cup, and I'm starting to miss it."
"Excellent. The game will be next Saturday. I'll notify the captains."
That same day after lunch, Oliver returned to his office to wait for Lavinia Medlock and Jack and Jill Davies, all of whom would be serving a detention with him that afternoon. Jack and Jill arrived first, followed by Lavinia.
"Thank you all for showing up so promptly. I have small task for you this afternoon, but first we'll need to go see Mr. Filch. Follow me please."
Oliver led the students downstairs to Filch's office and knocked on the door.
"Yes Mr. Wood?" asked Filch.
"I was wondering if we might borrow three buckets and a couple of scrub brushes. I have some students serving a detention with me."
At the word detention, Filch's face lit up. He began jabbering about hanging students by their thumbs in the dungeon as he gathered the buckets and brushes. "It's a shame they don't allow those punishments any more," Filch said as he handed the cleaning supplies to Oliver.
Oliver led the three students back upstairs, outside, and across the grounds to the quidditch stadium. As he was unlocking the gate he explained to the students what they would have to do.
"I realized after your first practical flying lesson that you all enjoy flying high. Well you won't be flying today, but you will be high above the ground. In the top box to be exact. You will scrub it clean, from top to bottom."
All three looked as though they were about to start whining and complaining.
"Any protests," said Oliver, "and it will be more than just the top box."
He climbed the stairs to the top box with the students trailing behind him. At the top, he handed them each a bucket and a brush. He said an incantation and a stream of soapy water flowed from the tip of his wand into the buckets. Lavinia took out her wand to bewitch the brush into scrubbing, but Oliver quickly stopped her.
"I forgot to tell you that you won't be needing your wands. In fact, I think I'll hold them for you until you're finished cleaning."
He took Lavinia's wand, and Jack and Jill handed theirs over grudgingly. All three of them scrubbed the box on their hands and knees for quite a while. Oliver wrote his notes to the quidditch captains while they worked, refilling the buckets with soapy water every now and then. Late in the afternoon, they finally finished.
"Have you learned anything from this?" he asked them.
"Yeah, don't mess with Mr. Wood," said Jack.
"Or you'll definitely regret it," added Jill.
"What about you, Lavinia?" asked Oliver. She pursed her lips tightly together and wouldn't answer.
The next morning Oliver sent a note to each of the house quidditch team captains. They read:
Dear (person's name),
Our match will take place this Saturday after breakfast. Prof. Brighton has agreed to participate. You should wear your house quidditch robes for the match. Bandannas will be given out after teams are decided so that we can tell who is on which team while we are playing the match. Teams will not be decided until the day of the match, at which time each team will be given 15 minutes to choose positions and come up with a game plan. See you Saturday!
Mr. Wood
By lunchtime that same afternoon, the entire school was buzzing about the upcoming match. It seemed that the entire school would be coming out next Saturday to show support for their house quidditch captain. About midweek, Oliver realized that he would need someone to referee the game on Saturday, since obviously he wouldn't be able to ref if he was playing. The first person that he thought of was Professor McGonagall. She was the fairest person he knew, and he was sure that she would be an impartial judge. He approached her after dinner on Thursday night and asked her if she would be the referee.
"I would like to Oliver, but as you know, I always oversee whoever is announcing the match to make sure that they comment in an unbiased manner. And speaking of an announcer, I don't think you've mentioned who you chose to announce this year."
"Er..."
Oliver wanted to smack himself upside the head. He had forgotten all about choosing an announcer. Now he needed an announcer AND a ref.
Oliver went down to Adrianna's office after dinner. She was sitting at her desk, grading some homework papers that she had collected earlier that day.
"Adrianna, I've got a problem!" he cried.
"What's the matter?"
"I just realized that I will need a referee and an announcer by Saturday. What am I going to do?"
"Why don't you concentrate on finding an announcer, and I'll help you find a ref?"
"Will you really? You're awesome Adrianna. Thanks a million!" Oliver leaned over her desk and gave her an impulsive hug, and then turned to head back to his office.
As he was passing the Muggle Studies classroom, he heard muggle music blaring and students talking loudly. He poked his head through the open doorway and saw students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sitting in the classroom, playing muggle board games and sitting around drinking a dark liquid that he had never seen before. He shook his head at the commotion and was about to leave, but then he heard a dark-skinned boy with cornrows giving a play-by-play of a game called Jenga that some students were playing.
"McCoy pulls out a block with amazing skill, and the tower's wobbling... oh, and it's still standing! Now it's Tessa Heatherley's turn ..."
Oliver walked into the classroom and approached the boy. It was Rob Jordan, one of his first-year flying students. He was Lee Jordan's younger brother. Lee had been best friends with the Weasley twins, and had been the quidditch announcer when he was a student at Hogwarts. Now that he thought about it, Oliver realized that Lee had been the announcer at the quidditch world cup match as well. Oliver put a hand on Rob's shoulder, and the boy turned around.
"Hiya Rob, how's it going?"
"Alright I guess," said Rob, sounding a little unsure.
"Look, I couldn't help overhearing you giving a play-by-play of this game, and honestly, I think you'd make a great announcer. I wanted to ask if you would want to announce the quidditch match that I am having this Saturday."
Rob couldn't have looked happier. "Really? You're serious?"
"Yeah, really."
"Sure I'll do it! This is so cool!"
"Great, just go up to the top box on Saturday and look for Prof. McGonagall, she'll tell you what to do."
"Excellent! Thanks Mr. Wood!"
Oliver smiled and left the room. He was very relieved that he had found an announcer. Now he just wondered who Adrianna would get for a referee. The next evening, Oliver was in his bedroom gathering the things that he would need for selecting teams for the match tomorrow. He heard someone bursting in through the outer door, and then he heard Adrianna's voice.
"Oliver! I found you a referee for tomorrow!" He emerged from the bedroom into his living room. "Wonderful! Who did you get?" he asked, carrying a handful of bandannas and a bag of marbles.
"Severus Snape."
Oliver dropped the bag of marbles. They fell to the floor and rolled everywhere. He looked at Adrianna in disbelief. "Snape!?"
"Yea, what's wrong with Severus?"
"He hates Gryffindors, and I was a Gryffindor. I hope I don't end up on the same team as Natalie, or my team won't stand a chance with Snape as ref!"
"Who's Natalie?"
"The Gryffindor House Quidditch team captain."
"I see. Well, if you don't appreciate my help you can just do it yourself next time."
"I do appreciate your help. It's not your fault, you didn't know. I'm sorry," said Oliver as he was picking up the marbles."
"Come on Oliver, it's Friday night! You can't just sit in your rooms and be bored all night!" said Adrianna. She turned on the CD player and put in a CD, and soon the sound of Nelly filled the room while they drank butterbeer. After a little while, Adrianna got up and started to dance. Fleur joined her shortly thereafter. Oliver was content to sit back and watch, but Fleur came over after a few minutes and pulled him up out of the armchair that he was sitting in.
"Wait a minute! Stop! I don't know how to dance!" he protested.
"I'll teach you then," Fleur replied with a coy smile. She placed his hands on her hips and put her arms around his neck and started dancing very close. Oliver had never danced with a girl like this before. Fleur was his friend, and he had never thought of her as anything more. In fact, he had never really thought about any girl romantically. She apparently was interested in him though, as she was coming on very strong.
"Fleur, stop," said Oliver, pulling away. "I'm not comfortable dancing with you like that."
He saw Adrianna look from one to the other, and then she muttered something about lesson plans and quickly left his rooms.
Fleur looked at Oliver as though he had just insulted her. "Oliver, I like you a lot. Surely you must feel ze same way."
"Look Fleur, I do like you. As a friend. But I'm not looking for a girlfriend right now. And even if I were, I don't think of you like that. You're just a friend to me."
"You don't think zat I'm attractive," she said, with the insulted tone in her voice and her eyes flashing with anger.
"No, that's not it at all! You're beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. How could you not be? You're part veela. But I don't feel any chemistry between us. We get along great as friends, but I honestly don't see it going further than that."
Fleur's anger seemed to subside a little. "I am sorry. I just assumed zat you would feel ze same way as I do. No boy 'as ever refused me before. I never expected to be rejected." A long awkward pause followed, as neither really knew what to say.
"Well, I'll just be off to bed zen," said Fleur. Her voice was still a little cold, but there was no longer anger flashing in her eyes.
"Goodnight," said Oliver.
She didn't reply as she opened the door and left him alone in his rooms. The next morning, Oliver decided that he needed to go and talk to Adrianna about being in the quidditch game with the team captains so that he could write to them and let them know what was going to happen. He walked down the hall to her rooms, still in his plaid pajamas.
He reached the bookshelf that served as a door and was about to call for Adrianna, but stopped at the sound of voices on the other side. He recognized them as Fleur and Adrianna. He was about to turn around and leave, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt if he listened in for a minute or two. After all, they would never know he was there. He listened for a few seconds, but suddenly he heard a low growl on the other side of the door and the conversation stopped.
"What's the matter, Chip?" he heard Adrianna say.
Suddenly he remembered that kneazles had an uncanny ability to recognize suspicious characters. The door swung open, and he was face to face with Adrianna. He was caught.
"Oliver! You were listening in on us, weren't you?" Adrianna asked accusingly.
"No, I swear I wasn't!" he lied. "I only wanted to ask you a question!"
"Then why was Chip growling at you?" Chip was now standing defensively in front of Adrianna, giving Oliver a threatening look.
"I really don't know! I just want to ask you something."
"Well I'm busy right now, it'll have to wait."
"When will you be unbusy?"
"I don't know!" she cried, exasperated. "I'll call for you through the fireplace when I'm finished talking with Fleur. Will you leave now?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I bothered you." Oliver turned and walked out of her office. "Stupid kneazle," he thought as he returned to his rooms to get dressed.
About an hour later, Oliver heard Adrianna's voice through the fireplace. "Oliver, I'm done talking to Fleur now if you want to come over."
Oliver climbed into the fireplace and soon emerged from Adrianna's fireplace. Chip was now lying comfortably on the rug right in front of the couch and didn't seem to mind that Oliver had just entered the room.
"Be honest with me. Were you spying earlier?"
"Well, I was going to. But I really didn't hear anything. Chip caught me before I had a chance."
"But you really do have a question for me?"
"Yeah. See, I talked to the quidditch team captains yesterday afternoon, and we all agreed to have a friendly 3 on 3 match before the start of the quidditch season. The only problem is, there are only 5 of us. So I was wondering if you might want to be the 6th person for our game."
"I'd love to. I haven't played quidditch since the World Cup, and I'm starting to miss it."
"Excellent. The game will be next Saturday. I'll notify the captains."
That same day after lunch, Oliver returned to his office to wait for Lavinia Medlock and Jack and Jill Davies, all of whom would be serving a detention with him that afternoon. Jack and Jill arrived first, followed by Lavinia.
"Thank you all for showing up so promptly. I have small task for you this afternoon, but first we'll need to go see Mr. Filch. Follow me please."
Oliver led the students downstairs to Filch's office and knocked on the door.
"Yes Mr. Wood?" asked Filch.
"I was wondering if we might borrow three buckets and a couple of scrub brushes. I have some students serving a detention with me."
At the word detention, Filch's face lit up. He began jabbering about hanging students by their thumbs in the dungeon as he gathered the buckets and brushes. "It's a shame they don't allow those punishments any more," Filch said as he handed the cleaning supplies to Oliver.
Oliver led the three students back upstairs, outside, and across the grounds to the quidditch stadium. As he was unlocking the gate he explained to the students what they would have to do.
"I realized after your first practical flying lesson that you all enjoy flying high. Well you won't be flying today, but you will be high above the ground. In the top box to be exact. You will scrub it clean, from top to bottom."
All three looked as though they were about to start whining and complaining.
"Any protests," said Oliver, "and it will be more than just the top box."
He climbed the stairs to the top box with the students trailing behind him. At the top, he handed them each a bucket and a brush. He said an incantation and a stream of soapy water flowed from the tip of his wand into the buckets. Lavinia took out her wand to bewitch the brush into scrubbing, but Oliver quickly stopped her.
"I forgot to tell you that you won't be needing your wands. In fact, I think I'll hold them for you until you're finished cleaning."
He took Lavinia's wand, and Jack and Jill handed theirs over grudgingly. All three of them scrubbed the box on their hands and knees for quite a while. Oliver wrote his notes to the quidditch captains while they worked, refilling the buckets with soapy water every now and then. Late in the afternoon, they finally finished.
"Have you learned anything from this?" he asked them.
"Yeah, don't mess with Mr. Wood," said Jack.
"Or you'll definitely regret it," added Jill.
"What about you, Lavinia?" asked Oliver. She pursed her lips tightly together and wouldn't answer.
The next morning Oliver sent a note to each of the house quidditch team captains. They read:
Dear (person's name),
Our match will take place this Saturday after breakfast. Prof. Brighton has agreed to participate. You should wear your house quidditch robes for the match. Bandannas will be given out after teams are decided so that we can tell who is on which team while we are playing the match. Teams will not be decided until the day of the match, at which time each team will be given 15 minutes to choose positions and come up with a game plan. See you Saturday!
Mr. Wood
By lunchtime that same afternoon, the entire school was buzzing about the upcoming match. It seemed that the entire school would be coming out next Saturday to show support for their house quidditch captain. About midweek, Oliver realized that he would need someone to referee the game on Saturday, since obviously he wouldn't be able to ref if he was playing. The first person that he thought of was Professor McGonagall. She was the fairest person he knew, and he was sure that she would be an impartial judge. He approached her after dinner on Thursday night and asked her if she would be the referee.
"I would like to Oliver, but as you know, I always oversee whoever is announcing the match to make sure that they comment in an unbiased manner. And speaking of an announcer, I don't think you've mentioned who you chose to announce this year."
"Er..."
Oliver wanted to smack himself upside the head. He had forgotten all about choosing an announcer. Now he needed an announcer AND a ref.
Oliver went down to Adrianna's office after dinner. She was sitting at her desk, grading some homework papers that she had collected earlier that day.
"Adrianna, I've got a problem!" he cried.
"What's the matter?"
"I just realized that I will need a referee and an announcer by Saturday. What am I going to do?"
"Why don't you concentrate on finding an announcer, and I'll help you find a ref?"
"Will you really? You're awesome Adrianna. Thanks a million!" Oliver leaned over her desk and gave her an impulsive hug, and then turned to head back to his office.
As he was passing the Muggle Studies classroom, he heard muggle music blaring and students talking loudly. He poked his head through the open doorway and saw students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sitting in the classroom, playing muggle board games and sitting around drinking a dark liquid that he had never seen before. He shook his head at the commotion and was about to leave, but then he heard a dark-skinned boy with cornrows giving a play-by-play of a game called Jenga that some students were playing.
"McCoy pulls out a block with amazing skill, and the tower's wobbling... oh, and it's still standing! Now it's Tessa Heatherley's turn ..."
Oliver walked into the classroom and approached the boy. It was Rob Jordan, one of his first-year flying students. He was Lee Jordan's younger brother. Lee had been best friends with the Weasley twins, and had been the quidditch announcer when he was a student at Hogwarts. Now that he thought about it, Oliver realized that Lee had been the announcer at the quidditch world cup match as well. Oliver put a hand on Rob's shoulder, and the boy turned around.
"Hiya Rob, how's it going?"
"Alright I guess," said Rob, sounding a little unsure.
"Look, I couldn't help overhearing you giving a play-by-play of this game, and honestly, I think you'd make a great announcer. I wanted to ask if you would want to announce the quidditch match that I am having this Saturday."
Rob couldn't have looked happier. "Really? You're serious?"
"Yeah, really."
"Sure I'll do it! This is so cool!"
"Great, just go up to the top box on Saturday and look for Prof. McGonagall, she'll tell you what to do."
"Excellent! Thanks Mr. Wood!"
Oliver smiled and left the room. He was very relieved that he had found an announcer. Now he just wondered who Adrianna would get for a referee. The next evening, Oliver was in his bedroom gathering the things that he would need for selecting teams for the match tomorrow. He heard someone bursting in through the outer door, and then he heard Adrianna's voice.
"Oliver! I found you a referee for tomorrow!" He emerged from the bedroom into his living room. "Wonderful! Who did you get?" he asked, carrying a handful of bandannas and a bag of marbles.
"Severus Snape."
Oliver dropped the bag of marbles. They fell to the floor and rolled everywhere. He looked at Adrianna in disbelief. "Snape!?"
"Yea, what's wrong with Severus?"
"He hates Gryffindors, and I was a Gryffindor. I hope I don't end up on the same team as Natalie, or my team won't stand a chance with Snape as ref!"
"Who's Natalie?"
"The Gryffindor House Quidditch team captain."
"I see. Well, if you don't appreciate my help you can just do it yourself next time."
"I do appreciate your help. It's not your fault, you didn't know. I'm sorry," said Oliver as he was picking up the marbles."