Deconstruction

Chapter Four: Oliver Wood

The world works in mysterious ways. Everyone has their own expectations of how things ought to be, but it never seems to turn out that way. These were things that Dr. White found herself pondering in her young life. She had always been a rather pensive person, especially since she was a child and the one of the worst things in the world that could happen to a child happened to her. Since that time, she became overly passive and watched her life play out like one would watch a movie or a television show.

At any rate, her patient seemed to be in brighter spirits. The act of going outside over the past few days had made him calmer, even though his eyes remained cold and dead. His veneer hid the subtle genius that she was sure he possessed. He didn't talk to show off his intelligence, but only to give her a window into his thinking, which was highly complex indeed.

There was one subject he skirted all the time: himself. He wouldn't talk about himself and it wasn't like he had amnesia. He didn't like to talk about himself or anyone else in his life. He spoke in larger, vague terms and never used any names of any individual people. He didn't talk about his family or friends. Nothing about his past life, which lead Dr. White to believe that he wanted to forget. Or it was too painful to talk about.

"So, you studied magic at this school. Does everyone else you know have magic?" she asked.

His hands were resting on the table, tapping along. She would have asked again, but he replied, "Not everyone has magic. Not you."

"No, I mean people you knew before coming here."

"Oh, this is a classical Freudian trick, isn't it? What do you want me to do? Blame my parents for being so screwed up?" He paused staring at the startled expression on Dr. White's face. "I'll tell you right now. I'm the one whose screwed up. Just me. Everyone's so quick to blame other people that they forget how to take responsibility for themselves. I'm tired of people doing that."

"Are you always so harsh on yourself?"

"If you knew the things I've done, you wouldn't question me."

"What have you done?"

He pulled away from her and took a deep breath. "Did I ever tell you about some of the characters of my story?" he asked.

Dr. White wasn't sure if he was changing the topic or continuing onward with a different style. So, she slowly shook her head as he tapped his fingers on the tabletop. He was bored. With a mind like his, it was no surprise that he'd get bored so easily. All of this was some sort of game to him. Or maybe that was all of Dr. White's assumptions arising.

"There was one individual. A poor deluded soul who thought that he had control of everything, but that is never completely true for anyone," he replied darkly. "Even if you think you have control it is a mere illusion."

He went on without waiting for any feedback from Dr. White, "You and I aren't much different, Doctor. We're used to being in the background. We linger in the background." Once again he glanced at her. This time it was more expectant, coaxing an answer out of her.

"The background is a safe place," she murmured uncertainly.

"That's not always true. There are risks to every position you take. I was so far into the background that I was pushed out into the foreground," he stated. "Before I knew things just got away from me."

"You mean you were overwhelmed?"

He adjusted his physical position without taking his eyes off her. "Why do you do what you do, Doctor? Everyone has a reason for why the fall into the occupation that they do. For my people, this is a trying time. Usually the bad things that happen in my world tend to bleed out into your world. I guess my question is why did you become a doctor in psychology in the first place?" His focused gaze seemed to penetrate her. "You are very driven, too. You're young and you've given up so much just to interview poor souls like myself. Something must have happened to you."

Dr. White shifted. Somehow, she knew that he would eventually make it about her. "I became a doctor of psychology to help people. I'm too shaky to be a surgeon and I like talking to people," she explained lamely.

"I know that's not true."

"How do you know that?"

"I can see it. You choose your occupation because your mother was one—" he glanced at her again and shook his head, "—no, your father was one. But something pushed you all the way to this lovely place." He gestured with a flourish of his hands at the surroundings.

She swallowed and felt shaken by his manner. He was reading her very well at the moment, better than she was reading him. He leaned forward. "If you want to know who or what I am, I already told you and the rest you should be able to figure out. Now do you want to know more about the cast of characters?"

"Yes," replied Dr. White as she readied her pen and pad.

Tonks spent the next few days gathering as much information on Oliver Wood as she could. There was a lot of information on him because he was a public figure, but what Tonks was interested in, was his private life, which was not covered. As a sports figure, Oliver was an accomplished athlete, but personality wise he was pretty dull. He was known to be very driven, but he didn't have any of the interesting gossip surrounding him like other Quidditch players.

Rather, Oliver had a flat in an area of London known to the wizarding world as The Edge. He and Percy lived together until the latter disappeared. The area was called The Edge because it was one of the places that bordered the Muggles. In fact, it wasn't surprising that one could walk across the street in certain areas and find him or her self in the Muggle World. Tonks knew the neighborhood very well because she resided in a section of it.

Oliver lived in a different side. The side he lived on was closer to the Muggles, which struck Tonks as strange. Usually, purebloods such as Oliver and Percy would have chosen to live closer to the wizarding side. Tonks had taken the middle ground and lived along the middle of The Edge.

There was nothing much in Oliver's personal records. In the previous year, he was taken off the reserve team for the Puddlemere United and to replace the old keeper. He had been brought in at the end of the last season and did very well. They decided to keep him as the keeper. There was one large discrepancy: the quoted "Quidditch obsessed keeper" had missed three solid weeks of practice during the pre-season. In fact, Oliver's game had been off since the new season began. It was a good thing that goals were only worth ten points.

Oliver had a typical childhood. He had started and finished Hogwarts the same years that Percy had, so Tonks assumed that was where their friendship had began. Oliver had gotten the flat first and later on Percy had moved in. The timing was shortly after the row that Percy had had with his father. The lease on the flat changed over to just Oliver by himself almost immediately after Percy had disappeared, which meant that at least one person knew that Percy had gone. It indicated that Percy and Oliver were probably very close friends, yet none of Percy's brothers said anything about him having friends.

When Tonks was done gathering her necessary research, it was time for her to prepare her questions for Oliver. It came down to her trying to figure out where to hold the interview. She could hold it at the flat, but after looking at his schedule, she found out that he wasn't there as often as he was at the Puddlemere United training pitch in London. So, Tonks had very little choice, but to go to the pitch.

It wasn't that hard to get to the pitch, but getting inside to talk to the players was going to be harder than it looked. Upon Tonks' arrival, she encountered the rudest young lady that she had ever had the displeasure of meeting. "Excuse me, I would like to talk to Oliver Wood," she requested in a brisk, businesslike manner.

"I'm sorry that no one gets in," muttered the sullen young woman.

"I really need to talk to him," insisted Tonks.

"You and everyone else, but no one gets into the pitch while they're practicing," she retorted before licking her index finger and thumb to turn a page of her copy of Witch Weekly.

"I am Tonks from the Aurors office and if you don't allow me to talk to Oliver Wood, I'll be forced to bring you in," snapped Tonks impatiently. The very least the young woman could do was look at her.

Her words, however, had the desired affect. The young woman immediately looked up at her and slowly got out of her chair. "I'll have to go and ask the manager. Please wait here."

Tonks tapped her foot as she waited for the manager to come. The manager was a rotund man with a greasy moustache and receding hair line. It was odd because his eyebrows were thick and bushy. He reeked of an odor that Tonks couldn't even begin to identify, not that she really wanted to. He seemed to waddle over to her. Upon closer inspection, he was really just shifting his weight side to side to get to her. It was reminiscent of a character from one of those Muggle movies that Tonks' father had shown her. "You have a problem that needs addressing, Auror?" asked the manager.

"I'd like a name first if you don't mind," replied Tonks in almost a sweet tone.

"I'm Barnabas Crumble and I'm the manager of the Puddlemere United. What's your name young lady?"

"Tonks."

"Just Tonks? That your first name or surname?"

"Look, I know that practice is over, but I need to talk to one of your players, Oliver Wood."

"I'm sorry, but I must protect my players, Tonks. You understand, don't you?"

"And you'll have to understand if I have to arrest you if you keep getting in my way."

Crumble's upper lip twitched under his moustache as he sized up Tonks up to see if she was bluffing or not. "All right, but I want to make sure that whatever happens here doesn't go to the press. Wood's a great player and has a good image. I wouldn't want you doing anything to tarnish that."

Tonks held up her hands as if to show she had no weapons. "I assure you, that I'm not going to do anything other than ask him a couple of questions. Thank you for your cooperation." Crumble huffed a little before he gestured for her to follow him into the pitch. She walked into the huge training pitch and saw that all the players were currently up in the air.

"You can talk to him after practice," said the manager as he waddle off to do whatever it was that he did. Tonks didn't turn to look at him, her eyes were fixated on the players. Scanning, she was able to find Oliver just at the goal. She wished that she was up the high stands, but this wasn't a social call.

The final whistle blew from the coach and the team captain signaled the other players to come back down. They all dove in perfect formation to the ground. Oliver was the keeper so he was the second to last one down just before the seeker. They all marched up to the coach who gave them a short pep talk before dismissing them off to the showers.

"Oliver Wood," said Tonks out loud, catching the burly Quidditch player's attention. "I would like to you a couple of questions."

"Looks like you've got yourself a fan, Wood," teased one of the chasers.

"She's a reporter," observed the seeker.

"Actually, I'm from the Aurors," corrected Tonks. The rest of the players glanced at Oliver, giving him a strange look. The Aurors didn't typically talk to people unless something wrong happened. "Now, if you don't mind giving me a few moments of your time, I'll make this as quick as possible."

Oliver walked up to her with his broomstick still in hand. His hair was damp with sweat and was bigger than Tonks had expected from when she was looking up at him in the air. "What do you want to talk to me about?" he asked as the rest of the players slowly left for their showers.

"Percy Weasley," replied Tonks, hoping to startle a reaction from him. Oliver didn't give anything away.

"I was wondering how long before someone would come asking," he said after moment of tense silence. "What do you want to know?"

"For starters, how long have you known him?" asked Tonks. The easiest way to get information out of a person was to get them good and comfortable first.

"Since we were eleven," replied Oliver. "I've known him for nearly half my life. Look, I don't know what happened to Percy, okay? Aren't you going to ask questions about him? This isn't about me."

Tonks had out her quill and notebook. "You're right. I just want to get a feel for the situation. How long ago did you see him?"

"I saw him about three months back," replied Oliver. "The last time I saw him was when he left to go and quit the Ministry. The day that all that stuff about Fudge came out in the Prophet. He moved his things out of the flat."

"You mean he planned to leave in the first place?" asked Tonks in amazement. Thus far she had gone under the assumption that something horrible had happened to Percy. "You mean he just walked out on his life?"

Oliver nodded as he gripped his broomstick tightly. "None of them could understand him because he wasn't like them." His voice sounded strained.

"Are you talking about his family?" asked Tonks.

Oliver gave her a sharp, securitizing look as if he was trying to determine what side Tonks was on. "Why are you looking for him in the first place?" he asked.

"His father asked me to," replied Tonks, thinking it was best to stick to the truth. "But that doesn't mean that I don't care about Percy. I made a promise I would find him and bring him home."

"Did it ever occur to any of you that he didn't want to come home?" retorted Oliver. "Look, I know the twins, Fred and George. They always gave him a hard time. That's partly the reason why I worked them hard myself when I was their team captain in school. Like I said, no one in the family ever took the time to get to real know the Percy. Most people think that all of them are the same."

"I know that they're not. Even the twins have their differences. I've seen it first hand," agreed Tonks. "George was willing to help me, but Fred wasn't. But what was so different about Percy?"

"He felt like he had a lot to prove. I mean following after Bill and Charlie wasn't easy for him. He and I had a lot in common because of it. He was really good at his studies, while I excelled in Quidditch. For the entire time that we were in Hogwarts, those things defined who were. Most people didn't even know we were friends. In fact, I don't think most people knew that Percy could ride a broomstick or catch a snitch almost as well as Harry Potter."

Tonks was taken back a bit by Oliver's fond descriptions of Percy. His words were more glowing, more appreciative of his friend than any of the brothers. "Did you notice any chance in his behavior prior to his disappearance?" she asked.

"He got more secretive," admitted Oliver after another lengthy pause to gather his thoughts. "He was under a lot of pressure, working under Fudge and all. It got to him from time to time. He was stressed out. It took a lot out of him to hold in all the secrets that Fudge had. In the end, he decided it was time to tell the world about it."

"Fudge forced Percy to cover up for him?"

"Of course, he did. I'm not saying that Percy made a wise decision when it came to siding with Fudge over his father. But later on he felt like he had no choice, but to stand by his decision."

Tonks muttered under her breath, "Pride."

"It wasn't pride," insisted Oliver as he glared at her. "He couldn't get any respect from the people he wanted it from the most, so he had to find a place to get it. You never saw them all together. Or even just him with any one of his siblings. Maybe, Ginny might have given him even the slightest measure of respect."

"So, you think he left because he had destroyed his life here," whispered Tonks.

"I don't know," muttered Oliver. "I wish I could say something more, but I can't. I don't know what happened to him. I saw him leave that morning. He said he had to go early. It was before all the newspapers were even delivered by owl in the morning."

"So, he left the flat before dawn?" asked Tonks. "You knew he was leaving that day. You said he moved out all his things and took care of any personal business?"

Oliver nodded vigorously. "He didn't give a change of address, so all of his owls were still coming to the house. I toss them," he answered. "I haven't heard from him since then."

"Did he take anything with him? Some clothes perhaps or other papers?"

Oliver's hand gripped his broomstick tighter. Tonks could tell his knuckles were turning white under his gloves. "That's the strange thing. He didn't take anything with him. Look, he was my best friend. His life was hard. You couldn't blame him if he wanted to walk away from it, but I don't think he's the one to blame at all."

"So, you know that he had the intention of leaving, but he didn't inform anyone else, except you?" pressed Tonks.

Oliver shrugged. "I don't know if he told anyone else. He probably thought no one would care. He was partly right. It only took three months for them to notice he was gone. Now, if you don't have anymore questions for me, I need to take a shower." His voice resonated with anger.

"Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions," said Tonks. "But I may need to talk to you again."

Oliver looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded slowly. "Sure, if you need anything else, I'd be more than happy to help out. I just don't think I have anything else to tell you. Look, I'm sorry to tell you this, but you may not find him. Percy didn't want to be found. You may be thinking of the Weasleys, but someone has to think of Percy's privacy. I don't think you'll find him, so maybe you should just tell his father what I told you."

Tonks gave Oliver a slight smile as she said, "I'm sorry, but I tend to keep my promises to the first person I make them to. Once again, thanks for your help. Good luck this season."

"Thanks," whispered Oliver as he walked off towards the direction that the other players had disappeared into. Tonks pocketed her notebook and quill and walked out the pitch. She felt a mixture of feelings run through her.

Part of her was relieved that someone knew for sure that Percy knowingly left his life behind, but another part of her couldn't shake the feeling that something sinister had occurred. The question of why wasn't completely answered to Tonks' satisfaction. It had something to do with what she assumed Percy was. She had spent the past couple of days racking her brain, trying to figure him out. Her only conclusion was that Percy wasn't the man he had strived to appear to be.

The more answers she got, the more questions seem to pop up. As soon as she was out of the pitch, she Apparated back to the Aurors' headquarters and went back to the file on Percy. Maybe there was something in the past about Percy that she could draw a connection from. To her surprise, someone she hadn't expected was waiting for her.

"Hullo," said Fred with a brief wave of his hand. "No one knows I'm here."

Tonks gave him an encouraging smile. "Thanks from coming though. I know that this couldn't have been that easy for you. Please have a seat," she offered him the chair in front of her desk. He avoided looking at the picture of Percy she had on one of her cubicle walls.

After taking a seat, he sighed, "I went home this weekend to look at some of the repairs being made to the Burrow. We're fixing it up, so that when this is all over, it'll be nicer," said Fred. "I went up to Percy's room to look around a little. I don't know why."

"I just talked to Oliver Wood," offered Tonks. "He said that he doesn't know what happened. He wasn't the last person to see him that day, but probably the first. He left their flat at dawn." She didn't want to say anything about Percy's true intentions of leaving.

"He didn't pack up all his things. Mum doesn't know that Dad asked to go look for him. She thinks he's just not answering her owls. I can't stand seeing them like that. I was fine with just Mum, but now Dad. I went up to his room. It was kept the same way it was just as the day he walked out. He didn't take a lot of his stuff," said Fred in a flat voice. None of his narrative included his usually bravado. "He left behind the picture of his girlfriend. I realized that he must have broken up with her or something."

"Who is she? And how long did they date?" asked Tonks.

"Her name is Penelope Clearwater and she was in Ravenclaw. They starting dating his sixth year," replied Fred. "I think they might have broken up sometime after school ended because he was too busy with work."

"Do you think he maintained contact with her?" asked Tonks. Oliver hadn't said anything about Penelope.

"I don't know," admitted Fred. "I talked with George after you asked him your questions before, but he didn't mention Penelope. He said that I should come up and see you and tell her about it."

"Thanks," said Tonks as he got to his feet without announcing he was leaving. "I'll let you know what happens."

"Forget it about," muttered Fred as he walked out. Tonks stared at the chair for a moment again just before she got to her feet. She made her way to the hall of records again to look up anything on Penelope Clearwater.

It didn't take long for Tonks to find a record of Penelope Clearwater. She took the file with her back to her cubicle. Kingsley was there and he was waiting for her at her cubicle. "Were you waiting for me?" asked Tonks.

"I just had lunch with Arthur," said Kingsley. "We saw Fred on the way back, but he said he had to get back to the shop."

"Funny, I just got a lead from Fred. I just came back from the hall of records with Penelope Clearwater's file," said Tonks as she tapped the scroll of parchment. "Did you know that she was Percy's girlfriend in Hogwarts?"

"No, I didn't know he ever had one," answered Kingsley. "So, are you going to read it?"

Tonks took her seat. "Of course I am. It wasn't that hard to find. Let's see here," she said as she skimmed the beginning part. "Her parents are Muggles and she has an older sister. She graduated with top N.E.W.T. scores from Hogwarts and became an apprentice healer at St. Mungo's." Her brow furrowed as she put the parchment down.

"What is it?"

Tonks looked up at Kingsley as she whispered, "Penelope died a year ago."

AN: Oliver and Percy aren't a couple in this story. They are just flat mates and best friends because them being together as a couple is way too predictable. It's also unrealistic because they're never really mentioned together in the same page even in the books. I'm not against slash, but at the same time it has to be part of the original story before I write about it (i.e., I'll believe Harry and Ron as a couple before I believe Oliver and Percy as one).

I hope that J.K. Rowling answers the question of how old Tonks is. I have a feeling she's around Bill's age, which was revealed in the FAQ of Rowling's official site. She had to correct the her answer from the chat. Bill is five years older than Percy, while Charlie is three years older.

Veritas will not be updated. Please don't ask that it will be. It will only irritate me and it won't make me update. I am also repeating myself. People need to read my profile. Sorry.

kirikarin. I do not own Harry Potter. This story belongs to me and cannot be posted anywhere else without my permission.