By the next Friday, everyone at Hogwarts was exhausted. Oliver sat in his
office grading the midterms that he had given his students on Monday and
Tuesday. It was no surprise to him that Katelyn Branch had earned the
highest score of any of his students, followed closely by Juan Castillo.
Oliver had noticed that Juan no longer carried around his quick-quotes
quill or any of the other things that he had used for translations. His
English lessons with Adrianna must have paid off.
Speaking of Adrianna, Oliver had barely seen her all week. If she wasn't in class, she was grading stacks of Muggle Studies midterms. Well, at least he would see her on Christmas when he took her to the Yule Ball if all else failed. Oliver was really looking forward to the Yule Ball now. He had taken a couple of ballroom dancing lessons from Prof. Dumbledore and felt much more comfortable about the idea of dancing in front of people.
The Ball was only five days away, but Oliver knew he couldn't wait that long to spend time with Adrianna. He finished grading his midterms and then decided to go over to her rooms. She would probably be mad at him for interrupting her, but that was a chance that he was willing to take. He said the password, the bookshelf swung open, and he walked in to find Adrianna sitting on the couch still surrounded by stacks of parchment.
"Hey honey," she said wearily. She looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion. She shifted a pile of papers so that she could stand up. "You'll never guess what I found," she said with a twinkle in her tired eyes. She led him to the kitchen area and pointed at a small crack in the stone wall. "At first I thought it was just because the castle is old, but I decided to check it out anyhow." She touched each of the stones that the crack ran through and stood back. A section of the wall big enough for a grown person to walk though slipped below the floor. Oliver followed Adrianna through the hole in the wall into a dark narrow passageway. Adrianna pulled out her wand.
"Lumos," she muttered. The light from the tip of her wand lit the passageway, revealing some steep narrow steps that descended into more darkness.
"I'll bet Fred and George never found out about this secret passage," Oliver thought as he peered down the steps. "Where does this go?" he asked aloud.
"I don't know. I haven't had time to explore it yet," she replied. She slowly descended the stairs with Oliver close behind her. The passageway narrowed more, and the ceiling was so low that they had to duck to avoid hitting their heads. Their footsteps echoed through the stone tunnel as they walked. Finally, the tunnel widened but it seemed as though they had reached a dead end. They were surrounded by a solid, circular stone wall.
Oliver began to tap on random stones in the wall. "There's got to be a way out of here," he said.
Adrianna got down on her hands and knees and began feeling around for a trap door or any other opening that might be on the floor. They both worked for quite a while by the light of her wand. Finally, she slumped back against the wall. "It's no use," she said with frustration. "It's just a..."
But she never finished her sentence. Instead, she stood up carefully so that she wouldn't hit her head on the low ceiling and began to push against a section of the ceiling. "This is the way out. Help me," she said to Oliver.
Oliver pushed as hard as he could, and though the door budged it wouldn't open. "Maybe there's something blocking it," he suggested. He held Adrianna's lit wand up to the crack between the trap door and whatever was obstructing it. "Wait a minute, that's the same color as the rug in my living room! This passageway must end in my rooms. But we won't be able to open the trap door until I move the rug."
"Well, at least now we know where it goes," said Adrianna. They made their way back through the tunnel, up the stairs and into Adrianna's rooms.
Oliver and Adrianna laughed at each other as they emerged from the dark passage into her well-lit rooms. They were both covered from head to toe in dust. Oliver brushed a cobweb off of Adrianna's robes and took her by the hand. "Let's go and move the rug so we can open the trap door," he said.
But Adrianna pulled her hand away and pointed to the stacks of midterm exams that still needed to be graded. "We have to have to hand in our grades to McGonagall by midnight, and I'm nowhere near being done with mine."
He glanced at the clock. It was already 10 pm. He then looked over at the piles of ungraded exams. "You'll never finish in time. Let me help you."
She gave him a very grateful look and hugged him, then pulled him over to the couch and handed him a piece of parchment. "This is the answer key," she explained. Then she handed him a stack of exams.
They sat next to each other grading Adrianna's exams. Oliver read some of the questions as he graded, and realized that he knew absolutely nothing about muggles. He also realized that this could be a bad thing, considering that Adrianna was muggle-born. If he ever met her family... he shuddered at the thought. Finally, the exams were finished. Adrianna finished recording the last score on her grade sheet at the stroke of midnight, when there was a knock at the bookshelf.
"Who's there?" she called.
"Minerva."
Adrianna pointed her wand at the bookshelf and it swung open. Professor McGonagall bustled into the rooms.
"I have not received your grades yet, Adrianna. You know that we release midterm grades to the students tomorrow. Oliver, I'm glad to see you here. It saves me a trip to your rooms to collect your grades, which I also have not received."
"I just finished grading my exams," said Adrianna, handing the list to Minerva.
"Mine are in my office," Oliver explained. "I'll go get them."
"Don't bother," Professor McGonagall replied. "Accio grade sheet!" she shouted, and within moments Oliver's grade sheet had been summoned to her and was in her hand.
She looked back at Adrianna and Oliver, and now that she had what she had come for she seemed to notice their appearance. "What happened to you two? You look as though you've been through a war zone."
Oliver glanced at Adrianna nervously.
"We were doing a bit of light housework earlier," Adrianna offered lamely.
"I see. Well, enjoy the rest of your evening," said Professor McGonagall, and she left with the grade sheets in her hand. Oliver groaned internally. He could tell that she didn't buy it for a minute.
"Can we check out the trap door tomorrow? I am so tired I can barely stay awake," Adrianna said when Minerva was out of earshot.
"Of course," he replied. As much as Oliver's curiosity was killing him, he wasn't about to make her stay up even later. He kissed her goodnight and was about to leave, but as she walked toward the bedroom she lost her balance and stumbled. She was so tired that she literally couldn't stand up anymore. He rushed over to her, picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. He deposited her in her unmade bed and tucked the covers in around her. He smoothed her hair back from her forehead and kissed her gently before returning to his own rooms and getting ready for bed.
The next day brought two important events: the release of midterm grades and a trip to Hogsmeade for students in the third year and above. Oliver heard moans of agony and sighs of relief as grades were distributed at breakfast. He looked around the Great Hall at the students' reactions. Katelyn Branch was grinning from ear to ear, showing her piece of parchment to all of her friends. Isabelle King and Morgan Heard both looked furious, and Oliver guessed that is had something to do with Muggle Studies if their exams had been any indication of their overall grade. Sofie, Lauren, Malcolm and Natalie all looked content with their grades.
Adrianna turned to Oliver while they were eating breakfast. "Do you want to go into Hogsmeade today? I really need to go shopping. I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet."
Oliver suddenly realized that he hadn't bought gifts for anyone yet either. "That sounds great," he replied.
So after breakfast, they set out for Hogsmeade with the students. As they were walking, Oliver felt a poke in the middle of his back. He turned around to find Fleur Delacour and Eva Hathor, the Study of Ancient Runes teacher.
"Long time no see, stranger," said Fleur.
"Hi Fleur, how've you been?"
"Good. I 'aven't seen much of you or Adrianna lately though."
"Well, this is a busy time of year," Oliver replied.
"How about if we all spend the day together?" suggested Fleur. "Then we'll have time to catch up on the last couple of weeks."
"Sure," Oliver said.
The first place the group visited was Dervish and Banges, which had an assortment of equipment for wizards and witches. Oliver bought gifts for his mum and dad there. Then they went to Zonko's, but when they saw the line of students they left as quickly as they had come. They ended up at the Three Broomsticks, which was packed with students as well. They didn't let this deter them though as they found a seat at a booth along the wall. They ordered drinks and chatted for a while about how the last couple of weeks had gone. Oliver found Eva to be a rather interesting person. He had never made an effort to get to know her before. After a while they realized that most of the students had left and that it as getting late, so they headed back to the castle. Oliver and Adrianna parted with Eva and Fleur on the stairs and went to Oliver's rooms.
"Want to check out that trap door now?" asked Adrianna.
"Definitely."
Adrianna levitated the furniture with her wand while Oliver rolled back the rug. The floor underneath looked solid. Oliver felt around the floor for a few minutes but found nothing.
"I was almost certain that door was in here," he said with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"The only thing I see is this piece of string," said Adrianna, picking up what looked like a scrap of thread from the bottom of his rug. But when she picked it up, it grew longer and revealed a square in the floor that had previously been invisible. A handle magically materialized in the revealed trap door.
"You're brilliant," said Oliver, giving her and excited kiss.
Adrianna looked at the trap door thoughtfully. "I wonder if Dumbledore knew about this passageway when he assigned us these rooms."
Oliver awoke the next morning and set out for Diagon Alley after a quick breakfast. He located a store that he had heard of but had never been to before and told the sales clerk what he wished to purchase. After careful explanation, the clerk got to work on his order and told him to come back that afternoon.
Rather than hanging around Diagon Alley, he decided to go back to Hogwarts for a little while. He went over to Adrianna's rooms and entered without bothering to knock. She wasn't in her living room or kitchen, so he assumed that she was still asleep. He knocked gently on the bedroom door and when she didn't answer, he pushed the door open. To his surprise, she wasn't in there either. He looked around and saw steam seeping out around the bathroom door. He realized that she was taking a bath and was about to leave when the door opened and she walked into the bedroom wearing nothing but a white terrycloth bathrobe. Her long blonde hair was dripping wet. Her jaw dropped when she saw him standing there.
"Oliver what are you doing here?" she cried in surprise.
"I just wanted to see if you were up yet. I was about to leave when you came out of the bathroom," he explained.
"You can't just come into my bedroom uninvited! I could have been naked!"
Oliver didn't see how that would have been such a bad thing. He couldn't think of anything to say to her though. Luckily she didn't give him a chance to respond.
"Wait outside while I get dressed," she instructed. "I have to talk to you about something. And if I catch you peeking through the keyhole you're in serious trouble!"
Oliver obediently waited outside until she emerged from the bedroom a few minutes later, fully clothed.
"Honey, I told my parents that we're dating and they want to meet you."
"What? But we've only been dating for a couple of weeks."
"I know, but I think that it would be nice for you to meet each other. I was thinking we could spend New Year's Day with them and have dinner there."
"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, they're muggles, and I'm a wizard, and not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't know the first thing about muggles."
"I'm sure everything will be fine, and besides, I told my mom that you're a wizard."
"What if they don't like me?"
"Are you kidding? They'll love you! How could they not?"
But Oliver wasn't so sure. He talked to Adrianna for a little while longer, and then made up an excuse about having to go talk to Dumbledore about something. But what he really had to do was return to Diagon Alley to pick up what he had ordered that morning. He entered the shop and after giving the clerk a large handful of galleons, the clerk presented him with a small box. Oliver opened it and examined the contents carefully.
"Is everything to your satisfaction, sir?" the clerk asked.
"Yes it's perfect. Thank you."
Speaking of Adrianna, Oliver had barely seen her all week. If she wasn't in class, she was grading stacks of Muggle Studies midterms. Well, at least he would see her on Christmas when he took her to the Yule Ball if all else failed. Oliver was really looking forward to the Yule Ball now. He had taken a couple of ballroom dancing lessons from Prof. Dumbledore and felt much more comfortable about the idea of dancing in front of people.
The Ball was only five days away, but Oliver knew he couldn't wait that long to spend time with Adrianna. He finished grading his midterms and then decided to go over to her rooms. She would probably be mad at him for interrupting her, but that was a chance that he was willing to take. He said the password, the bookshelf swung open, and he walked in to find Adrianna sitting on the couch still surrounded by stacks of parchment.
"Hey honey," she said wearily. She looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion. She shifted a pile of papers so that she could stand up. "You'll never guess what I found," she said with a twinkle in her tired eyes. She led him to the kitchen area and pointed at a small crack in the stone wall. "At first I thought it was just because the castle is old, but I decided to check it out anyhow." She touched each of the stones that the crack ran through and stood back. A section of the wall big enough for a grown person to walk though slipped below the floor. Oliver followed Adrianna through the hole in the wall into a dark narrow passageway. Adrianna pulled out her wand.
"Lumos," she muttered. The light from the tip of her wand lit the passageway, revealing some steep narrow steps that descended into more darkness.
"I'll bet Fred and George never found out about this secret passage," Oliver thought as he peered down the steps. "Where does this go?" he asked aloud.
"I don't know. I haven't had time to explore it yet," she replied. She slowly descended the stairs with Oliver close behind her. The passageway narrowed more, and the ceiling was so low that they had to duck to avoid hitting their heads. Their footsteps echoed through the stone tunnel as they walked. Finally, the tunnel widened but it seemed as though they had reached a dead end. They were surrounded by a solid, circular stone wall.
Oliver began to tap on random stones in the wall. "There's got to be a way out of here," he said.
Adrianna got down on her hands and knees and began feeling around for a trap door or any other opening that might be on the floor. They both worked for quite a while by the light of her wand. Finally, she slumped back against the wall. "It's no use," she said with frustration. "It's just a..."
But she never finished her sentence. Instead, she stood up carefully so that she wouldn't hit her head on the low ceiling and began to push against a section of the ceiling. "This is the way out. Help me," she said to Oliver.
Oliver pushed as hard as he could, and though the door budged it wouldn't open. "Maybe there's something blocking it," he suggested. He held Adrianna's lit wand up to the crack between the trap door and whatever was obstructing it. "Wait a minute, that's the same color as the rug in my living room! This passageway must end in my rooms. But we won't be able to open the trap door until I move the rug."
"Well, at least now we know where it goes," said Adrianna. They made their way back through the tunnel, up the stairs and into Adrianna's rooms.
Oliver and Adrianna laughed at each other as they emerged from the dark passage into her well-lit rooms. They were both covered from head to toe in dust. Oliver brushed a cobweb off of Adrianna's robes and took her by the hand. "Let's go and move the rug so we can open the trap door," he said.
But Adrianna pulled her hand away and pointed to the stacks of midterm exams that still needed to be graded. "We have to have to hand in our grades to McGonagall by midnight, and I'm nowhere near being done with mine."
He glanced at the clock. It was already 10 pm. He then looked over at the piles of ungraded exams. "You'll never finish in time. Let me help you."
She gave him a very grateful look and hugged him, then pulled him over to the couch and handed him a piece of parchment. "This is the answer key," she explained. Then she handed him a stack of exams.
They sat next to each other grading Adrianna's exams. Oliver read some of the questions as he graded, and realized that he knew absolutely nothing about muggles. He also realized that this could be a bad thing, considering that Adrianna was muggle-born. If he ever met her family... he shuddered at the thought. Finally, the exams were finished. Adrianna finished recording the last score on her grade sheet at the stroke of midnight, when there was a knock at the bookshelf.
"Who's there?" she called.
"Minerva."
Adrianna pointed her wand at the bookshelf and it swung open. Professor McGonagall bustled into the rooms.
"I have not received your grades yet, Adrianna. You know that we release midterm grades to the students tomorrow. Oliver, I'm glad to see you here. It saves me a trip to your rooms to collect your grades, which I also have not received."
"I just finished grading my exams," said Adrianna, handing the list to Minerva.
"Mine are in my office," Oliver explained. "I'll go get them."
"Don't bother," Professor McGonagall replied. "Accio grade sheet!" she shouted, and within moments Oliver's grade sheet had been summoned to her and was in her hand.
She looked back at Adrianna and Oliver, and now that she had what she had come for she seemed to notice their appearance. "What happened to you two? You look as though you've been through a war zone."
Oliver glanced at Adrianna nervously.
"We were doing a bit of light housework earlier," Adrianna offered lamely.
"I see. Well, enjoy the rest of your evening," said Professor McGonagall, and she left with the grade sheets in her hand. Oliver groaned internally. He could tell that she didn't buy it for a minute.
"Can we check out the trap door tomorrow? I am so tired I can barely stay awake," Adrianna said when Minerva was out of earshot.
"Of course," he replied. As much as Oliver's curiosity was killing him, he wasn't about to make her stay up even later. He kissed her goodnight and was about to leave, but as she walked toward the bedroom she lost her balance and stumbled. She was so tired that she literally couldn't stand up anymore. He rushed over to her, picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. He deposited her in her unmade bed and tucked the covers in around her. He smoothed her hair back from her forehead and kissed her gently before returning to his own rooms and getting ready for bed.
The next day brought two important events: the release of midterm grades and a trip to Hogsmeade for students in the third year and above. Oliver heard moans of agony and sighs of relief as grades were distributed at breakfast. He looked around the Great Hall at the students' reactions. Katelyn Branch was grinning from ear to ear, showing her piece of parchment to all of her friends. Isabelle King and Morgan Heard both looked furious, and Oliver guessed that is had something to do with Muggle Studies if their exams had been any indication of their overall grade. Sofie, Lauren, Malcolm and Natalie all looked content with their grades.
Adrianna turned to Oliver while they were eating breakfast. "Do you want to go into Hogsmeade today? I really need to go shopping. I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet."
Oliver suddenly realized that he hadn't bought gifts for anyone yet either. "That sounds great," he replied.
So after breakfast, they set out for Hogsmeade with the students. As they were walking, Oliver felt a poke in the middle of his back. He turned around to find Fleur Delacour and Eva Hathor, the Study of Ancient Runes teacher.
"Long time no see, stranger," said Fleur.
"Hi Fleur, how've you been?"
"Good. I 'aven't seen much of you or Adrianna lately though."
"Well, this is a busy time of year," Oliver replied.
"How about if we all spend the day together?" suggested Fleur. "Then we'll have time to catch up on the last couple of weeks."
"Sure," Oliver said.
The first place the group visited was Dervish and Banges, which had an assortment of equipment for wizards and witches. Oliver bought gifts for his mum and dad there. Then they went to Zonko's, but when they saw the line of students they left as quickly as they had come. They ended up at the Three Broomsticks, which was packed with students as well. They didn't let this deter them though as they found a seat at a booth along the wall. They ordered drinks and chatted for a while about how the last couple of weeks had gone. Oliver found Eva to be a rather interesting person. He had never made an effort to get to know her before. After a while they realized that most of the students had left and that it as getting late, so they headed back to the castle. Oliver and Adrianna parted with Eva and Fleur on the stairs and went to Oliver's rooms.
"Want to check out that trap door now?" asked Adrianna.
"Definitely."
Adrianna levitated the furniture with her wand while Oliver rolled back the rug. The floor underneath looked solid. Oliver felt around the floor for a few minutes but found nothing.
"I was almost certain that door was in here," he said with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"The only thing I see is this piece of string," said Adrianna, picking up what looked like a scrap of thread from the bottom of his rug. But when she picked it up, it grew longer and revealed a square in the floor that had previously been invisible. A handle magically materialized in the revealed trap door.
"You're brilliant," said Oliver, giving her and excited kiss.
Adrianna looked at the trap door thoughtfully. "I wonder if Dumbledore knew about this passageway when he assigned us these rooms."
Oliver awoke the next morning and set out for Diagon Alley after a quick breakfast. He located a store that he had heard of but had never been to before and told the sales clerk what he wished to purchase. After careful explanation, the clerk got to work on his order and told him to come back that afternoon.
Rather than hanging around Diagon Alley, he decided to go back to Hogwarts for a little while. He went over to Adrianna's rooms and entered without bothering to knock. She wasn't in her living room or kitchen, so he assumed that she was still asleep. He knocked gently on the bedroom door and when she didn't answer, he pushed the door open. To his surprise, she wasn't in there either. He looked around and saw steam seeping out around the bathroom door. He realized that she was taking a bath and was about to leave when the door opened and she walked into the bedroom wearing nothing but a white terrycloth bathrobe. Her long blonde hair was dripping wet. Her jaw dropped when she saw him standing there.
"Oliver what are you doing here?" she cried in surprise.
"I just wanted to see if you were up yet. I was about to leave when you came out of the bathroom," he explained.
"You can't just come into my bedroom uninvited! I could have been naked!"
Oliver didn't see how that would have been such a bad thing. He couldn't think of anything to say to her though. Luckily she didn't give him a chance to respond.
"Wait outside while I get dressed," she instructed. "I have to talk to you about something. And if I catch you peeking through the keyhole you're in serious trouble!"
Oliver obediently waited outside until she emerged from the bedroom a few minutes later, fully clothed.
"Honey, I told my parents that we're dating and they want to meet you."
"What? But we've only been dating for a couple of weeks."
"I know, but I think that it would be nice for you to meet each other. I was thinking we could spend New Year's Day with them and have dinner there."
"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, they're muggles, and I'm a wizard, and not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't know the first thing about muggles."
"I'm sure everything will be fine, and besides, I told my mom that you're a wizard."
"What if they don't like me?"
"Are you kidding? They'll love you! How could they not?"
But Oliver wasn't so sure. He talked to Adrianna for a little while longer, and then made up an excuse about having to go talk to Dumbledore about something. But what he really had to do was return to Diagon Alley to pick up what he had ordered that morning. He entered the shop and after giving the clerk a large handful of galleons, the clerk presented him with a small box. Oliver opened it and examined the contents carefully.
"Is everything to your satisfaction, sir?" the clerk asked.
"Yes it's perfect. Thank you."