Oliver's return
By Beth
Chapter 1- The Hogwarts express?
Oliver woke up on the morning of September 1st very sleepy and grumpy. He was really happy to be returning to Hogwarts but he never realized how early the Professors had to get up to get there before the students. He would be taking over for Madame Hooch who had left to train as a referee for the World cup, coming up next year. He put on his dress robes and collected his things to put in his trunk. His owl put up quite a fight to come off his perch outside the window. The owl was obviously as grumpy as him.
Once he was ready, he gathered his things and apperated (which he was just certified to do) to the Leaky Cauldron and took out a letter.
Dear Professor Wood,
We are so happy to be having you as a professor at Hogwarts this
year. Please meet me and the other professors at the Leaky
Cauldron at 8:00am on September 1st. Can't wait to see you.
Professor McGonagall
"Glad to have you back Wood, excuse me, Professor Wood" he told him and smiled.
"I am very happy to be here, but I am sorry the Madame Hooch is gone, she was a wonderful teacher" Wood replied.
"She was, but she always aspired to be more, I think you will do very well here"
"I hope so" Professor McGonagall stood up and turned to Dumbledore.
"We must get up to the castle and prepare for the students arrival," she told him.
"You are right Minerva, we must go. Hagrid, will you please collect the professor's things and follow us to the castle".
"O' course Professor" Hagrid replied.
He gathered all the trunks and things that where piled in a corner and followed the other professor's out the door towards Hogsmeade. Oliver still wasn't sure how they were getting to Hogwarts. Hermoine Granger told him once you couldn't apperate into it, and the Hogwarts Express would be on its way to the station to retrieve the students. He followed the other professors to the King's Cross station and soon realized how they were getting to Hogwarts. A beautiful black train with a gold trim and the Hogwarts crest printed on the side of it was sitting in place of the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4.
"I thought the Hogwarts Express was the only way into Hogwarts" Wood asked Dumbledore.
"We try to keep people believing that so it minimizes the entrances to castle, we don't want people looking for it. We only allow the professors and a few Ministry employees to see it". Dumbledore informed him.
They boarded the train and Wood was in awe. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Huge reclining chairs with side tables filled with food, books and schedules. There were floating candles all over and the gold interior sparkled as the candles flickered. Dumbledore informed him that the hand woven throw rugs were a gift from one of the other schools. Just as Oliver settled into a scarlet recliner, the train lurched and they were off.
Chapter 2- The mysterious substitute
Oliver stepped into Hogwarts for the first time since he left two years ago. He was now 20 years-old and doing what he loved. Teaching flying to student and giving them the same passion he had for soaring in the clouds with the wind in their hair. He really wanted to be flying right now but he had to get ready for the welcoming feast. He entered the great hall and it was just as he remembered, floating candles, see-thru ceiling and all. He took his seat at the head table for the first time and looked out upon the house tables. He remembered sitting at the Gryffindor table discussing Quidditch strategies with Harry Potter and the rest of the team. He was pulled out of his daydream by the opening of the Great Hall's doors. Student after student came in and sat down. Professor McGonagall soon followed by the first years and the sorting ceremony began. The hat sang it's song and soon the first years were all in there seats. Then Professor Dumbledore stood and prepared to do his usual speech.
"Welcome new students, I have a few announcements before the feast begins. First of all, to all new students the forest behind Hagrid's cabin is off limits unless otherwise instructed. Also, as many of you know, Madame Hooch has left Hogwarts to train as a referee for next years Quidditch world cup. So, now, I would like to introduce the new flying teacher Professor Oliver Wood", Dumbledore pointed for Wood to stand.
Wood stood and spotted Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley who were cheering the loudest. He smiled waved and then sat back down. He nodded at Professor Dumbledore to continue his speech.
"We hope that you will all enjoy Professor Wood's class. Now, on a much more personal note I must tell you I will be leaving Hogwarts this year", there were many loud gasps and all the professors, except Professor McGonagall and Hagrid, seemed concerned. "I will be filling the the temporary position of Minister at the Ministry of Magic as the current Minister has suffered a most tragic accident involving a mysterious, and unknown Hippogriff," Hagrid flashed a quick smile but became serious very quickly. "So, you must all be wondering who my replacement is. Well, the only person I feel is most qualified is Professor McGonagall. Now, because she will be busy with her duty as Headmistress she with no longer be the Transfiguration teacher", More gasps and whispers came from this announcement. "We have found a substitute and hopefully she will be good enough to return next year. She should be coming soon, ah, there she is", a young woman about 20 years old entered through the Great hall's doors. She had chest length, wavy, brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes. She wore scarlet dress robes and smiled when she realized everyone in the hall was staring at her.
"I am proud to have the pleasure of introducing Professor Emigen Mazari ", there was a steady applause and Professor Mazari walked quickly to her seat and Professor Dumbledore continued. "Now that the talking is over, please enjoy the feast", and just like that the food appeared.
The school enjoyed their feast and Oliver enjoyed watching his new co-worker. She seemed quite sweet and extremely intelligent but Oliver was too ah-struck to talk to her. The feast seemed to end to quickly and then she was gone. As Oliver stood to find her, Professor Dumbledore approached him.
"Oliver I would like to speak with you", Dumbledore said to him.
"Of course Professor, what is it?" Oliver reluctantly said.
"Well since Minerva is going to be headmistress we need a head of Gryffindor house, I was wondering if you were interested in the job". Oliver glanced around looking for Emigen. "Of course professor, I would love that. I am really tired right now though, I think I will head off to bed, big day tomorrow ya know".
"Of course, goodnight Wood".
Chapter 3- A secret romance
The next morning Oliver woke and he headed to breakfast. As soon as he walked into the room he saw Emigen. She was speaking with a couple of students about transfiguring. He wanted to go speak to her but wasn't sure what he would say. Finally he thought what the hell, I'll start with hello.
"Professor Mazari, may I have a word?" he could barely believe the words escaped his lips.
"Of course, Professor Wood, just one moment", she turned back to her student, said a few words and they scurried off. "Hello professor, it's nice to finally meet you", she held out her hand and Oliver shakily shook it.
"I just wanted to say hello and that it will be nice working with you this year", to Oliver's astonishment she began to giggle. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"You really don't remember, do you?" she said flatly.
"I'm sorry, should I know you?" he said, looking at her straining to remember her.
"I met you at the Quidditch World cup when it was held in England. I was talking to Harry Potter when you came over to steal him away. You probably didn't stay and talk considering I was supporting Bulgaria", she said with a smile.
"Oh my goodness, I remember now, I saw you in your Bulgaria outfit and was trying to rescue Harry from you", he said and then wished he could suck the words back into his throat. To his relief, she laughed.
"Yea, I guess Harry wasn't enjoying my opinions on the Irish seeker," she giggled and continued. "So, I was wondering if you would like to go for a drink with me tonight at the Three Broomsticks, to discuss my point of view, of course?" she looked so pretty, he could hardly say no.
"Of course, I'll meet you in the entrance hall", he told her shocked at what had just happened.
"Is 8:00, ok?" she asked.
"Sounds good, I'll see you then", he watched her walk away and stood in shock that he had just landed a date and he'd only been back at Hogwarts for a day. He realized the time, and hurried out to the courtyard for his first class. He set the brooms and got ready for the first year class to show up. He started the class on the bell and the rest was a blur, in fact the whole day went into a blur. All he could think about was Emigen. He saw her at dinner and she kept shooting him glances. Her eyes stared deep into him; he thought she could see his soul. Dinner ended at 7:30 and he hurried to his room to change. He came down the staircase looking for Emigen but she wasn't there yet. He stood there in the entrance hall imagining her smile as she walked towards him. Imagining her holding his hand as they sat in the Three Broomsticks, talking about Quidditch and arguing about Bulgaria's tactics and complaining about Ireland's seeker. He knew that all that would start by her coming down the stairs and saying
"Hello Oliver, are you ready?" Oliver spun around to see Emigen standing there with her hair put up with little spiral curls coming out of it and a very pretty black dress. It had lacey black sleeves and a v-neck. It split diagonally from the knee down to the calf, and drapped over it was her beautiful scarlet robe.
"Oliver, are you ok?" she looked intently at him.
"Oh, yea, are you ready to go", he snapped out of his daze quickly.
"Yes, lets", she looked at him oddly as he opened the door for her.
They took the teacher's train and walked through Hogsmeade laughing and talking about everything they could think of. They got to the Three Broomsticks and had a few drinks, still laughing and talking. They both realized how late it was and needed to return to the school. They got back on the train and headed back to Hogwarts. They climbed the steps and Emigen turned to look at Oliver.
"Ya know, when I saw you at the World cup, I was in awe of you. You obviously had a passion for the sport and it sparkled about you. You were so charismatic and intelligent, I just wanted to be around you, I just wanted to be in the same room with someone so charming", she told him as he looked at her. She opened her mouth to say something but Oliver kissed her instead. It was one of those unimaginable kisses. One that lasted forever but still ended to quickly. They both backed away and just smiled at each other. He again opened the door for her and walked her up the stairs.
She stopped at the top and said, "We can't say anything about this to the other professors, they might get edgy about it"
"Your right, we better keep this quiet, I'll see you tomorrow" he replied.
"Goodnight Oliver", she walked away smiling, glancing back at him. Oliver also went up to bed smiling. He was in such a daze; he didn't even noticed when he practicaly ran over Neville Longbottom.
Chapter 4- An unexpected problem
Oliver woke up early that morning and went to breakfast and sat in his usual spot still smiling from the night before. Dumbledore was leaving that morning so it was a bittersweet day. He said his final goodbyes and left Hogwarts. Something was looming though, something Dumbledore learned of and returned late that afternoon. He advised Professor McGonagall to cancel classes and collect the teachers in the lounge. She did so and that's when everything changed. All of the teachers were there except Emigen.
"I have a some bad news to tell you all", Dumbledore began. "Professor Mazari will be out for a couple of days," Oliver became increasingly interested. "She has just informed me that she was attacked last night. By what, she is not sure. She told me that she was walking along the grounds late last night and someone jumped from the bush and attacked her", Oliver was getting very red with anger. "She said she was fine but since her attack she has been increasingly pale and very tiered. Madame Pompfry insists she stay in the hospital wing. Please inform your classes to be careful and not to be out late", Oliver and the rest of the professors stood to leave when Dumbledor called him, "Oliver, can I have a word?" Oliver walked quickly over to the Professor.
"Yes Professor, what is it?"
"Emigen told me she was out with you last night, she asked me to not say anything to the other professors, and I respect that, I must tell you though that we believe she may have been bitten by a vampire. She is very scared and I think it might help if you go visit her". Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder and walked past. Oliver knew what Emegin was scared of. If a vampire had bitten her she would soon be showing it's traits and if they didn't figure out how to help her soon, she could become a vampire herself.
Oliver went to teach his last class and informed them of what had happened. They seemed scared both for Emigen and for themselves. He assured them that if they were careful and didn't go wandering off by themselves they would be fine. He continued his lesson and made sure each of them learned he basic rules of flying in daylight. His mind was clearly somewhere else and after the lesson he headed for the hospital wing. He walked through the door and asked Madame Pompfry where Emigen was and he walked over to her. She was very pale, but she seemed happy to see him.
"How are you feeling?" Oliver asked her.
"Better, Professor Snape says he is getting close to a potion that will help me. I am more worried about another person being bitten by what bit me".
"We informed the classes to be careful and to not go off by themselves, everyone will be fine, including you", She smiled at that fact and grabbed his hand.
"Thanks, I am really glad you're here, I have been really bored here by myself, will you stay and play Wizards chess with me?"
"Of course, but get ready to lose", they both smiled and played many games of Wizards chess.
Chapter 5- Antics for the usual trio
Oliver went down to breakfast really tiered from staying up with Emigen playing wizards chess. He hurried down and ate quickly remembering that his first year class was going to be flying high today and he needed to tell Madame Pompfry. He also wanted to go see how Emigen was doing that morning. He walked to the hospital wing and informed Madame Pompfry about the class but noticed that Emegin was gone.
"Where is Emigen Madame Pompfry?" He asked curiously.
"Oh yes, she went to see Professor Snape, he said he finished her potion", she told him while she rummaged through her cabinets.
"Thanks, hopefully I won't have to send you any of my students", she said something to him but he had hurried to his class, knowing he would be late if he didn't. His class went very well and there were only two minor injuries. After his class was over he went down to Snape's dungeon. He told him he had made a potion to reverse the effects of the vampire bite. He told Oliver that Emigen went to her room to rest.
Oliver went down to dinner hoping that she might come down to eat but he didn't make it that far. Professor McGonagall came up to him and informed him he had some Gryffindor's in his office to deal with. She told him they were found wandering around outside the forbidden forest. Oliver went into his office and Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley were sitting there.
"Ah, I should have known it would be you three", he said as he walked to his desk.
Harry looked up and said, "Professor, we think we may have figured out what happened to Professor Mazari". Oliver sat back in his chair as Harry continued. "Hermoine was reading a book in the library and the symptoms that Professor Mazari have are the symptoms that people get when they are bitten by a vampire and according to the Daily Prophet three other people have had the same experience as Professor Mazari".
"So how does this justify you tip-toeing around the forbidden forest?" Oliver asked as he crossed his arms and leaned forward.
"Well, we thought this was weird so we looked more into vampires and we found out that a witch or wizard can control all the vampires in the world with one spell. The thing is, the spell is dark magic and no one knows what it is. We were out by the forbidden forest because vampires under this spell leave a mark. It looks like this". Harry pulled out a piece of torn parchment that had a diamond with a star in the middle. "We were looking to see if that mark was in the area". Harry looked at Oliver hoping for his approval.
"Well I don't agree with you jumping into things without talking to an adult, but I do appreciate your trying to help and even though I don't want to I am going to take 5 points each from Gryffindor for disobeying the strict rules the Headmistress laid out for you", Oliver looked sternly at the trio and then smiled. "Now that that's over, why don't you meet me in the entrance hall at 8:30 tonight and we'll investigate some more, I'll tell Professor McGonagall you're on detention".
"Thanks Professor, we knew you'd understand", Ron told him as they stood to leave. Oliver headed out behind them to inform Professor McGonagall that he was taking 15 points from Gryffindor and about the detention. He entered the Great Hall and saw Emigen and Professor McGonagall talking. He hurried over and told Professor McGonagall about the detention and the points and she left for the point jars.
"How are you feeling Emigen?" Oliver asked her.
"Completely normal since the potion Professor Snape gave me earlier", she informed him.
"Good, you look a lot better", he said as they walked to the table. They talked through dinner and when it ended, Emigen told him she needed to go catch up on her classes and prepare for tomorrows. They said goodnight and Oliver went into the entrance hall to wait for the trio to show up.
"Hey Professor", he heard Ron's voice behind him.
"Hey, are you three ready to go?" He said as he turned to greet them.
"Yea, we're ready", the four of them walked out the door and headed to the spot Emigen told him she was attacked. They all had their wands ready and soon they found the mark from Hermoine's book.
"So now we know what caused her attack, but do you have any idea how to reverse the spell?" Oliver asked the three as they walked back up to the castle.
Hermoine strained to think. "By what I understand we have to break one of the vampires from being possessed by the spell and they others with break as well", she told them as they walked.
"But we don't know who it was that bit Emigen, I mean Professor Mazari", he said very concerned. That was the question that burned in there minds for the next month. Who at Hogwarts could be a vampire and no one know?
Chapter 6- Answered questions
Oliver spent a lot of time with Emigen during the next month and their relationship flourished. He loved being around her. The smell of her hair and her wonderful smile, it made him melt. She was so perfect and he felt so lucky to have her. The thing was, they were no closer to figuring out who the vampire was even after there was another attack. Seamus Finnigan was out walking with Neville Longbottom one afternoon and was the next victim. Neville tripped in the darkness and passed out without Seamus noticing and 10 minutes later Seamus was attacked. It was more serious this time and Snape had to double the potion. They had to figure out who the vampire was and break the spell. They knew that if there was another attack, that the victim may not make it. He had sent Harry, Ron and Hermoine to start researching all the student's family background to see if there were vampires in the family. Oliver started investigating the attacks to see if they had anything in common. He asked Emigen for the details of her attack.
"Well, I had gone up to bed but I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk. I was down by the forest and suddenly someone jumped from the bush and tackled me. Who ever it was bit me and I blacked out. When I came to, I was on the ground. I got up and I was really dizzy. I grabbed the walls of the castle and guided myself to the hospital wing where Madame Pompfry was and she took care of me". Emigen closed her eyes and held her head. "My head hurts every time I try to picture the person who attacked me".
"Ok, why don't you go rest", he held her hand and helped her up.
"If I remember anything, I will tell you". She walked away and Oliver got up to go see Seamus. He told the same story. He just couldn't see the connection. He wondered if the other three had found anything. He went to the library to find them. Hermoine was pouring over books.
"I haven't found anything yet", she told with a frown. "I'm sorry".
"It's alright, we'll figure it out", he said to her, patting her shoulder. "I think I'm going to go to bed, you really should go as well. You look exhausted".
"I will in a little while", she said straining to read the word on the page.
Oliver walked up to bed thinking about Emigen. Thought about the way she looked the first night they met and the smile that was printed on his face as he walked to bed. As he walked to bed he relized, that was it, there was the connection. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. He ran back down the staircase to the library to find Hermoine. He got half way there when he saw Emigen.
"Oliver, I remember something, the person who attacked me, he was a boy, a young boy", she told.
"I know who it is, follow me", they both ran to the library to find Hermoine.
"Hermoine, I know who it was, I know who the vampire is!" Hermoine looked at him intently. "WHO!!!" Her and Emigen yelled. "Neville Longbottom, he was there when I was walking up to bed the night Emigen was attacked and he was with Seamus the day he was attacked", Hermoine and Emigen looked astonished. "Look up his family, hurry". Hermoine flipped pages franticly. "Oh my goodness, Neville's great grandfather was a vampire, that's enough to make the spell work", she jumped up and ran to the door. "We have to find him". Oliver, Hermoine and Emigen ran up the stairs to the dormitory and burst into Harry and Ron's room. There was Neville standing above Harry, fangs out. "NEVILLE!!!" Hermoine screamed. "Neville, this is Harry. The one who got your Rememberall back for you. The one who always defended you when Malfoy tried to pick on you", Neville blinked. "Come on Neville come out of it, this is Harry". Then all of a sudden Neville's fangs went back into his mouth and he fell to the ground.
"What happened, what am I doing here?" Neville cried.
"It's alright Neville, it wasn't you, you were under a spell".
Chapter 7- Behind the attacks
The next few months passed with ease. Emigen and Oliver's relationship became public and they both signed on to teach next year. Harry, Ron and Hermoine had a normal year for the first time and Neville learned about him family, including the vampire part. There was still one thing troubling them all though, who had caused the attacks that almost killed Harry?
"We'll get him next time master, we'll come up with another plan, we'll get him".
The End