Chapter 8

            "Can I never wake up on my back?" I asked myself, not opening my eyes yet.

            Finally I opened my eyes, the bright late-morning light almost blinding me. I noticed that I was back in the Hospital Wing.

            "I really do need to stop waking up here," I thought to myself. "I don't see Oliver in any of those other beds. He must be somewhere in the other direction."

            I turned my head the other way.

            "Oh."

            I had forgotten that, late last night, I had gotten into Oliver's bed with him. What a great way to scare myself first thing in the morning.

            "Well, I better get down to breakfast before anyone sends a search-party for me," I mumbled to no one as I slid my right arm over Oliver's chest back to me.

            But something had my hand.

            I sat straight up in the bed to see what was holding my hand captive: Oliver's hands were squeezing my right hand. Oliver was awake! He was finally awake after a week! Ok, not completely; but enough to take my hand in his!

            I was so excited that I didn't pay attention to the fact that he was moving around. But when he squeezed my hand even tighter; yeah, that definitely got my attention. I looked at him again just in time to see him open his dazzling brown eyes.

            "What took you so long?" I asked, laughing and crying at the same time.

            "How long was I out?" he whispered, not quite able to talk.

            "Una semana, Oliver," I said in my native tongue.

            "A full week?" he said, slowly sitting up as I moved to sit in front of him.

            "Sí."

            "No wonder I'm so hungry then," he whispered in reply.

            "Oh yeah, you should be. People will go crazy if they see you down there. I'll run down there and bring up as much as I can," I said, getting off his bed and picking up my bag.

            "What if someone asks what you're doing?" he asked.

            "You should know me better than that by now Oliver," I replied with a grin, "you know that I can make up some really good lies. But I suggest that you pretend to still be out until I return."

            And with that, I was off to breakfast while holding a secret from the rest of the school.

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            "Hey Cris, where were you?" Alli asked me as I walked into the Great Hall.

            "Durmiente," I replied, sitting down next to Andrew and across from Bethany.

            Moving closer to me, Andrew whispered into my ear, "Sleeping with anyone in particular?"

            The next thing he knew, he got my elbow in his stomach: "Cállese tu prat!"

            He got my point.

            Luckily I had come to breakfast at the perfect time; it was almost over, so while everyone else was leaving, I was still eating.

            "Are you coming Cristina?" Bethany asked me before she walked out the door.

            "I'll be up there soon, I just got here," I replied.

            Then I was left alone in the Great Hall. Making sure again that no one was in there with me, I pulled out my bag and started filling it with any kind of food I found that wouldn't make a mess of my bag. By the time I was done filling it, my bag was pretty heavy. That's when I decided to head back up to Oliver.

            On the way up there, I couldn't help singing softly to myself: "I'm so excited....."

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            I walked over to his bed.

            "Oliver, it's me. I'm back and I've got food."

            That got his attention. He sat up in the bed so quickly, I almost dropped my bag.

            "Don't scare me like that. You've already scared me enough just being in here," I said, sitting in front of him on his bed. "Here, this should last you until dinner hopefully," I added, handing him my bag.

            "Thanks a lot Cristina!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around me.

            "Don't let go of me now, please don't. I'm loving this!" I said to myself.

            But he had to, seeing as how he hadn't eaten anything in over a week. So I told him what had been happening ever since I had left the Hospital Wing while he ate. Of course the first thing I told him was about how Quidditch practise had gone the day before. I then told him about classes and what had been covered.

            By the time I had finished talking, he had finished eating. So then we had the chance to talk again with each other.

            "I see that your hand is healing," he said, pointing at my still slightly bandaged hand.

            "What? Oh yeah, it is. I can take the bandage off in a few days," I replied.

            "Good. As soon as I'm out of here, practise will continue, but we'll need to practise more than one day a week," he said, not letting his mind stray from Quidditch.

            "Well, that proves that he's fine. He still only thinks about Quidditch," I thought to myself, but found it to be a good thing.

            But then a thought occurred to me: "Oliver?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Um, before the Bludgers hit me, you put yourself over me to protect me. And then you said that you wouldn't let anything happen to me and then that you loved me. Do you really love me?" I asked him, looking deep into his shimmering brown eyes.

            "Yes, I meant every word of what I said," he replied, returning my gaze and giving me one of his irresistible smiles.

            He loves me, he really does. I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd only be friends with guys. But now.............that explains why I couldn't help what I did next.

            Getting onto my knees, I said, "Well, I've got something to tell you now."

            I saw the light in his eyes fade, as well as his smile.

            "This is so perfect; he's falling for it," I thought to myself.

            Then, while still on my knees, I pushed him back down onto the bed, my face mere inches from his and whispered, "I love you too Oliver."

            The light became brighter than ever in his eyes.

            The next thing I knew, our faces were even closer. It was as if someone was slowly pushing me closer to him, but no one else was in there.

            Before I knew it, his lips were touching mine. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven! This was so wonderful! I never wanted it to end.

            I was so relaxed that my hands, which had been holding him down on the bed, slipped out from under me, thus causing me to lay completely on top of him which caused him to accidentally bite my upper lip.

            I pulled back.

            "Aye, Cristina. I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to," he said as I sat there rubbing my lip.

            "It's ok, I'm the one who couldn't keep their balance," I replied, smiling at him. "Shall we continue now?" I added as I pushed him back down.

            "Please, let's continue," he replied, putting his arms around me and pulling me down onto him as he started sucking on my bottom lip while I went for his top lip.

            Beats me how long we were doing that; when one is enjoying something greatly, they lose track of time. But I do know that after a while, Oliver un-tucked the light blue, button-up blouse that I was wearing, while we were still making out, and slid both hands under it, running his hands on the skin of my back.

            And I wasn't about to stop him.

            His hands continued to move up my back and then up my neck. Then he tried to take my hair down since I'd put it up in a bun, but couldn't since I had put pins in it to hold it in place.

            "So, he wants my hair down. I'll let my hair down, but not before messing with his mind," I thought smugly to myself as I moved my hands down onto his chest.

            With my hands in that position, I pushed myself up; but that's where I started messing with his mind: in Muggle schools, they teach you about First Aid and how applying pressure will stop bleeding. I however, picked up the thought that applying pressure at the hips will drive a guy insane. My thinking was correct; I was driving Oliver insane by doing that while removing the pins from my hair. The look in his eyes said it all. Finally, I let my hair down and slowly slid back down, his lips meeting mine again.

            "You know you drive me crazy, don't you Cristina?" he whispered into my ear.

            "I know, but that's the point," I replied.

            "I don't see why you have your shirt buttoned up all the way," Oliver said, bringing his hands around and un-buttoning the top button of my shirt.

            "Well, maybe you could take care of that problem for me," I said as he did the next one.

            He was one the fifth one, which would have begun to reveal what guys love to see, when someone walked in and said, "Cristina, there you are. I've been looking for......"

            I jerked my head up: "Bethany! Ahhh!"

            I had shouted because Oliver sat up so quickly, he knocked me onto the floor. I was afraid that Bethany would say something, so I pulled out my wand.

            "Silencius!" I shouted, pointing my wand at one of my best friends.

            After putting the silencing charm on her, I called her over, sort of: "Accio Bethany!"

            Getting back onto the bed, she just stood there, not being able to say anything, while I attempted to explain what had happened that day, though I left out the details of Oliver and me making out.

            Knowing that she'd want to say something, I took the silencing spell off of her so she could say what she had to. But her reaction wasn't what I expected.

            "You finally have a boyfriend Cristina! I'm so happy for you!" she exclaimed, wrapping me in a hug.

            "Bethany, can't breathe, please let go of me," I said, barely.

            "Sorry Cristina. So, what can I do to help the two of you? You know that there's no way Oliver can come back to the Common Room without being attacked by every other girl in the school, as well as in there. And what are you going to do about getting dinner up here? Breakfast was an easy task, but dinner won't be," she said, most willing to help me get Oliver down from here.

            "Well, dinner should be starting now. So, to hide any suspicions, Bethany and I will go down and eat dinner. When everyone is done and everything has been cleared, then we can carry on the next part of my plan," I replied, getting off of the bed and re-buttoning my blouse.

            "Looks like you're back to faking it again Oliver. But I'll wake you as soon as we finish," I said to him before giving him a very passionate kiss goodbye.

            "Are you quite ready yet Cristina?" Bethany asked, rather impatiently.

            "Sí, sí. Vamos ahora," I replied, walking out with her.

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            "Good, you found her Bethany," Robin said as we entered the Great Hall.

            I went and took my place next to Andrew as Bethany sat in front of me.

            "So what have you been doing Cristina?" Rebecca asked me as I filled my plate.

            "I've been doing all of my homework that I needed to make up and I've done almost all of my homework for the next week," I said, which was partly true. I did have almost all of my homework for the upcoming week done, but that's not what I was doing. "And what have you been doing?"

            "Nothing interesting, I'll tell you that. I had to go to the Prefect and Head Girl/ Head Boy meeting as soon as I left breakfast, and it just finished not even twenty minutes ago. It lasted so long because there was a lot to cover. There are so many events this year, it's enough to make your head turn," Rebecca said, causing us to lean in closer so no one else could hear. "First of all, in this first term of the year, a Halloween Dance will be held as well as the Yule Ball before we leave for the Winter Break. And our first Hogsmeade visit is next weekend."

            That got all of us very excited. I couldn't wait to get back to Oliver and tell him about all of this.

            "Andrew?" I whispered to Andrew, getting his attention.

            "Yeah?"

            "When dinner's over, could you come with me to the Hospital Wing?"

            "Yeah, sure, whatever you ask," he replied, smiling at me.

            "Thanks Andrew."

            Soon enough, dinner was over and everything on the tables disappeared. While everyone else went back to their own Common Rooms, Bethany, Andrew, and I went up to the Hospital Wing.

            "So, are you bringing me along for support Cristina?" Andrew asked me, slipping an arm around my waist and drawing me closer to him.

            Bethany just gave me a look. I knew what she meant.

            "Sí Andrew. I couldn't bear to go up there alone again," I said as Bethany walked between the two of us.

            "Andrew, do you mind if I speak to Cristina?" Bethany asked, dropping the hint for him to walk further ahead of us.

            "Yeah sure, I'll leave you two to talk about girlie stuff," he replied, walking ahead of us.

            "Obviously, you haven't told Andrew yet. Otherwise he would know that Oliver was awake and that you have been so nicely claimed by him as well. What are you going to do Cristina? You know Andrew's as crazy about you as Oliver is; but Oliver beat him to you. What the hell are you going to do? He will find out soon enough," she said, making me face the reality of the situation.

            Yes, Andrew is crazy about me. And of course Oliver is too. And plenty of other guys throughout the school. This is no secret to me. I've felt like those two have been after me since the day we all met. And I really am in for some trouble: I really love Oliver, but I do also love Andrew. I just don't know what to do. I'm just hoping the answer will come soon. But anyway.......

            "Bethany, I'm really not sure what I'll do. Right now I just want to celebrate the fact that Oliver's awake and I finally have a boyfriend," I replied.

            "Whatever you say. It's all up to you. No one else can choose for you," she said as we reached the Hospital Wing.

            "I know," I replied as we walked over to Oliver's bed; again.

            Sitting down on his bed, Andrew sat next to me. Little did he know what I had in store for him.

            "Oliver. I'm back," I said to Oliver.

            As soon as he heard me speak, he sat straight up in the bed.

            "Shit!" Andrew yelled, literally flipping over the end of the bed in alarm and hitting the floor; hard.

            Oliver, Bethany, and I just started laughing so hard. It was just too funny seeing Andrew's reaction.

            "Surprise Andrew!" I yelled, still laughing.

            "What the hell just happened here?!" he asked, still a little shocked still.

            "I'll explain, seeing as how this is so hard for someone like you to figure out," I replied, trying to stop the laughter.

            And I did explain to him all that had happened that day, but still leaving anything out about Oliver and me getting together. I still couldn't tell him, I just couldn't.

            "So, why am here then?" Andrew asked me, since only I knew.

            "Well, I thought that it would be good for Oliver to be able to speak to another guy, and you were the first to come to my mind," I replied while getting off of the bed. "And I knew you'd be able to help us get Oliver out of here. But we've gotta do something else first."

            I pulled out my Invisibility Cloak and pulled Oliver out of bed.

            "What are you going to do with that?" Bethany asked me.

            "Well, I know a little secret that the three of you will be in on soon. But I won't tell you until we get there. The cloak is for Oliver to hide under, so that no one knows anything about him yet. Andrew and I will help him down to the first floor while you, Bethany, look out for teachers the entire way down. Any questions?"

            Of course there were no questions. Why would they argue? So then I threw my cloak onto Oliver, causing him to disappear.

            "Bueno. Since we can't see you now, come stand between me and Andrew and put one arm around our shoulders so we can help support you," I said.

            As soon as I said that, I felt something go around my neck and then land on my left shoulder.

            "Great. This is going as planned so far," I thought to myself.

            Then I felt Oliver's hand slowly move further down. And he knew I couldn't say anything because then Bethany and Andrew would just look at me in strange ways. So I had to let his hand stay there.

            "Damn! I bet Oliver's been hanging out with Andrew too long again. I bet he's just smiling like crazy under that cloak right now. Not that I mind too much or anything, just kind of scared me, that's all......" I thought to myself.

            "Alright, I believe we are ready now. ¡Vamos!" I said.

            And we were off for my secret surprise.

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            Reaching the first floor, I led the rest of them down a hallway of portraits.

            "Cristina, why are we here? This is a dead-end hallway. There are only portraits here," Bethany said to me.

            "That's what you think," I said, removing Oliver's arm from around me.

            Then I walked over to a very large portrait of a bowl of fruit. Finding the green pear, I tickled it with one hand while I signaled my friends to come closer to the wall.

            As the pear started to giggle, the portrait swung open and we walked in.

            "Welcome to the school's kitchen my friends!" I exclaimed as Oliver took off my cloak and were surrounded by house-elves.

            "What we do for you?" the elves asked in unison.

            "My friend here has been sick for a while and needs some food. So could you give him everything that he asks for? That would be great," I said, indicating Oliver.

            "Come, we gets what yous wants," one of them said, taking Oliver over to a table while the rest of us sat in front of the fireplace.

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            "Oliver, are you ready to leave yet?" I called to him from where I was sitting.

            "I believe so. I don't think I can eat anymore," he replied, getting up from the table and coming over to us.

            "Alright then, let's get back to our Common Room before anyone sends search parties," I said, getting up at the same time as Bethany and Andrew. "Here Oliver; you'll need this a lot more now. You're coming back to the Common Room with us, but no one else will see you until tomorrow," I added, handing him my cloak.

            As we headed for the portrait door, we said goodbye to the house-elves.

            "Thanks to all of you for helping out Oliver. I promise we'll come back to visit you all soon," I said, as Oliver disappeared and once again walked between me and Andrew.

            "Please be back soon; we's miss you's," we heard one of them call out as we walked out of the kitchen.

            "You can thank the twins for the secret later. They showed this to me in our first year," I said.

            When we were walking to the stairs that would take us to the Grand Staircase, I felt Oliver squeeze my left shoulder to get my attention. Then I could tell that his head was near mine because I could feel the fabric of the cloak near my right ear.

            "Thanks for everything Cristina," Oliver whispered.

            I just smiled as his head moved away and his hand drifted down again.

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            Finally we reached our Common Room right as the first search party was about to leave.

            "Where were the three of you?" Rebecca asked me as we walked in.

            "We were......." I began to say as I was cut off by Andrew.

            "Cristina had asked me and Bethany to walk with her while discussing some things," he said, quickly making up an answer.

            "Sí, I was talking to them about how I was feeling with Oliver being in the Hospital Wing and all," I added, hoping she'd believe me.

            "Oh. Well I hope that you'll feel a little better now since talking it out, won't you?" Rebecca asked, being the concerned friend she is.

            "Actually, I'm already feeling a lot better, thank you," I replied, hoping she wouldn't noticed that Bethany was desperately holding back her laughter.

            "I'm glad to her that," Rebecca replied, smiling at me.

            "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed early tonight. I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights," I said as Andrew desperately tried to hold in his laughter.

            "Goodnight then Cristina, Bethany, and Andrew. Sleep well."

            "I will," the three of us said in unison as we walked up the stairs to our dorms, Oliver still between Andrew and me, still not moving his hand.

            Reaching our dorm rooms, we stopped so we could talk a little more.

            "The two of you are hopeless," I said as Andrew and Bethany both just burst out laughing. "Come on now, we said we'd get to bed. Oh, and Andrew, please bring my cloak back over later, will you? Gracias. And Oliver, please get out of your Quidditch uniform; it's been more than a week."

            "Oh I will. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Sleep well Cristina," Oliver whispered so that no one else could hear him but me.

            "Alright then. Is anyone in here?" Andrew asked, stepping into their dorm. "Ok, it's empty. Come on in Oliver."

            As soon as he walked in, their door closed and Bethany opened the door to our dorm room.

            "I'm hitting the shower before you, alright Cris?" she said, walking into the bathroom and locking the door.

            "Sure, not like I had a choice anyway," I yelled back at her.

            Not even a minute after I had said that, I heard someone knock at our door. So of course I opened it. No one was there. So I went back into my dorm and closed the door. Turning around to go lay down in my bed while Bethany was using the shower, I came face-to-face with Andrew, holding my Invisibility Cloak out in front of me. But here's what got my attention; he had no shirt on.

            "Andrew! What are you doing in here?!" I asked, a little alarmed but also kind of enjoying this.

            "I came to return this," he said, returning my cloak to me.

            I didn't know what to say, so I just made something up: "Uh.......how's Oliver doing?"

            "He's just cleaning up right now, thankfully," he replied.

            "That's good. So........what was the point of you coming in here wearing my cloak?" I asked him.

            "The point? This was the point."

            Before I knew what he was doing, Andrew had his arms around my waist. He pulled me to him, making me drop my cloak to the ground. Then he leaned in closer, and kissed me. I didn't know what I was doing; I put my arms around his bare neck and just let him continue. The next thing I know, my tongue was in his mouth! WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING?! WHAT WAS I DOING?!

            Hearing the shower turn off, he just stopped. All I could do was stand there, staring at his bare chest. I could have died right there. He just smiled at me.

            "Guess I should go now. Good night Cristina, sleep well."

            And with that said, he was gone. I bent over to pick up my cloak. I walked over to my bed and put my cloak into my trunk, as well as my bag. I put my wand on my nightstand.

            "Alright, I'm done," Bethany said, walking out as I grabbed my pajamas; a dark blue tank-top and baggy knee-length black shorts.

            While in the shower, I kept asking myself the same things constantly: "What have I done? What if Oliver finds out? Now what am I going to do? I'm caught between two guys that I love and that love me back. What am I going to do?"

            Finishing my shower, I went to lie in my bed, just staring at the night sky in my bed, thinking.

            "I am in some trouble now, aren't I?"

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A.N.) Hey all of my very few readers. Here's my latest chapter for you. Hope you enjoyed it. I don't believe that it falls into the 'Sappy', category does it? I was attempting 'Fluff', but I'm not quite sure the definition for 'fluff' and 'sappy'. I know it was long, honestly I wasn't aiming for that, just kinda happened. As always; thank you my faithful readers, spread the word of this, and most importantly, keep reading AND reviewing.