Chapter 17 Good Things and Bad Things

Saturday morning.

Eric woke and looked to see who else was awake. He seemed to be the first one up. He dressed and headed downstairs to the Common Room. It was almost empty, only a few who were getting ready for the Hogsmeade Trip.

With the heightened security the only way that they were allowed to go down was by the carriages. They had scheduled times for being at the castle and at Hogsmeade. Then once there they had to stay in groups. There were still complaints about that.

The times had been posted. Eric saw that he had over an hour to eat before the first carriage left. He headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

The Hall was almost empty. Eric took a seat towards the end and grabbed some cereal. He wondered when the rest would be getting up.

"So you're taking her out to a tea." A voice said.

Eric turned and saw Brocklhurst come around with one of his buddies.

"Yes," he said. "I plan to have the deal sealed soon. You know she's got that body like a Butterbeer bottle."

"Especially that tail end. I wish I were you."

"It will take a little work." Brocklhurst said. "She is the kind who likes attention and I am more than willing to give it." He chuckled lightly.

Eric did not know who they were talking about. But if anyone talked about his sisters like that he would make sure that they would be unable to properly fly a broomstick for a very long time. He decided to forget about the conversation and go to Hogsmeade.

He headed down to the end of the walk and waited for one of the carriages. The snow was just beginning to fall. From the castle he saw several people walking down towards the carriages that were now arriving.

He saw a familiar face heading towards him.

"Hi, Olivia." Eric said opening the door to one of the other carriages. "I was hoping that you might want to talk." She was dressed in a cloak with a scarf wrapped around her neck. She somehow made it look pretty.

"I can't today I have a date. At the tea house." Olivia answered heading towards another carriage with her friend Williams. She stepped in the carriage started to head out.

"With who?" Eric asked jogging alongside the moving carriage.

"Warren." Olivia answered out the window of the moving carriage before it started to pick up speed.

Eric stopped on the spot. He thought about it for a moment. There wasn't anyone in Gryffindor he knew of with the first name of Warren. He thought about the other houses. Then he remembered the conversation at breakfast. Warren Brocklhurst.

Immediately Eric climbed into the next carriage and tapped it so it would take off. He would catch up with Michael and Shawn later. Eric's thoughts now could not leave the conversation that he heard in the Great Hall. There was no way Eric was going to let Olivia go out with that prat.

"Don't be too angry." Eric suddenly remembered Christine Lily telling him. Somehow she had discovered what was going on and had thought to warn him. But how would she know how much he despised Brocklhurst?

He made a mental note to keep an eye on that girl from now on.

He did not know how to keep an eye on Olivia during the date. Why would she even go out with that ugly piece of troll. . .

Right now he had to be working on a plan.

After reaching the edge of the village Eric jumped out and headed into the three broomsticks to wait. He ordered a butterbeer and sat down. From there he tried working on more plans. Each one he had in his head so far was a guaranteed fail.

He looked at the bottles of butterbeer that were on sale in a cooler. Brocklhurst was right. Olivia did have a figure of a butterbeer bottle.

After a while he saw Shawn and Michael come in. They got a butterbeer as well and took a seat next to him.

"You got here early." Shawn said.

Eric didn't answer.

Michael looked at him. "You look like you lost the Quidditch Cup."

"Olivia's going to the tea house." Eric answered. "She's going on a date with Brocklhurst."

"That is unbelieveable." Michael said. "He's on the Ravenclaw team. He's the enemy. Why would she go out with him?"

"Maybe she wants to get back at you." Shawn answered. "Calling her dad a jerk wasn't the best move that you ever made. Be glad that she is still talking to you."

"You heard what she called me during last practice." Eric said. "Why would I want to be with her."

"Because you have been gawking at her since we got on the train this year. You remember that cute little thing that she was wearing?" Shawn said nudging Michael.

"Alright. I see what you are telling me. So how do I go in there and win her back?"

"Let her have her date. After a few minutes with Brocklhurst she will realize how bad he is and dump him." Michael said.

"You think so?" Eric asked.

"How long will it be before he makes one of his comments?" Shawn said.

"Just be the guy to swoop in and pick up the pieces." Michael said.

"Go to the tea house and wait outside." Shawn said. "We'll get a couple of these to go." He got up and grabbed some of the bottles from the cooler. They then headed towards the tea house.

Michael quickly went to the door and peaked in. "They're sitting at the far end."

"I can't take this. I have to see what is going on in there." Eric said heading towards the door.

Michael quickly grabbed him by the collar. "You want her to see you!"

"What do you suggest?" Eric asked.

"I don't know." Michael answered.

"We can't just go in and pretend to sit and chat." Shawn said.

"Maybe we could see them from the window in the back." Michael suggested.

They headed towards the back of the tea house. Shawn took a quick look from the window. "We can see them from here, but if they look over here they might see us."

"Does anybody know any good spells?" Michael asked.

"Idiot." Eric said allowed. "There's a spell in the charms book. It makes a window one way glass."

"I don't remember that." Shawn said.

"We haven't studied it." Eric said.

"So you don't know how to do it?" Michael stated.

"It wasn't that hard." Eric said. "Vennauno." Pulled out his wand and placed it on the window pane.

"Get ready to run." Shawn said.

Eric traced out the window and said the spell. Nothing appeared to happen, which probably was a good thing.

Eric watched for a moment. A girl looked over towards Eric. She didn't appear to see him. She was checking her hair and makeup really quick before her date returned.

"I think this is working." Eric said.

Michael and Shawn joined him staring into the tea house.

Olivia and Brocklhurst were staring at opposite ends of the round table. They were talking to each other. Eric wished he knew what they were saying. A waiter brought them tea and sandwiches.

"Watching this is making me sick. She's better than that." Michael said.

The date continued while they ate. Eric resisted the urge to go in there and start pounding on him. "If he touches her I will knock him so hard there won't be any magic left in him."

"Easy." Shawn said.

Eric relayed the conversation that he overheard at breakfast.

"He should be knocked that far." Michael answered.

They sat and waited. Olivia got up like she wanted to leave all of the sudden. Brocklhurst grabbed her arm to stop her. He stood and put his other arm on her shoulder.

"What do you think is going on?" Shawn said.

Brocklhurst leaned in and kissed Olivia.

Micheal and Shawn were holding Eric in place.

Olivia brook apart from Brocklhurst. She then reached down and picked up her cup of tea. She then tossed it all into Brocklhurst's face. He staggered then wiped the tea from his eyes. Olivia ran out.

Eric watched her from the outside. She ran in the direction of the castle.

"Time to fly in." Shawn said. "Get going."

Eric decided to take the advice and ran after her. Thanks to his speed he was able to catch her really quickly.

"Don't you know we need to stay in groups."

Eric felt like slapping himself.

"I just want to be alone." Olivia said.

"That's okay." Eric said. "Are you heading back towards the castle?"

"Yes," Olivia answered. She stormed off in the direction of the castle. Eric didn't bother following her.

He contemplated for a moment whether he should go back and admit how he felt about her. His decision was soon answered for him. Eric was say Carr running towards him. "Emergency meeting. Gryffindor Common Room now!" Carr didn't give any explanations before leaving.

Eric took it as serious and headed towards the end of the village to wait for the carriage.

The Common Room was soon filled with the Quidditch players. Olivia was sitting away from the group. Eric took a seat next to her.

Carr was walking back and forth in front of him. He was breathing very heavily. "Now, I made efforts this year to prevent accidents. However we did have an accident." His eye direction turned towards Karen their seeker.

Eric looked over and saw that she was wearing a cast that she was trying to hide under her robes.

"We need to replace her on the team. I will never forgive myself for waiting so long to hold replacement tryouts." Carr said. "Are there any suggestions?"

"Why don't we have Olivia." Lott said. "She already knows all of our plays."

"I don't have a broom." Olivia quickly said.

"You don't have a broom?" Eric asked.

"No. I don't." Olivia got up. "Because I don't." She whispered to Eric.

She headed out the portrait hole.

"Are there any more suggestions?" Carr said returning to the meeting.

"I have an idea. Let me get with you tonight." Eric said.

"Who?"

"I haven't seen them fly yet. I'll get with them and see how well they do. They wanted to try out for seeker anyway."

"It's one of your cousins isn't it?" Michael said.

"Yes." Eric said quietly.

"Alright. I will see you before dinner on the Quidditch Pitch." Carr said.

"We'll get started." Eric said getting up to hunt down Christine Lily. He hoped she would be as good as her dad was.

Eric found Christine Lily in the library working on her homework.

"You're back early. I suppose you found out what happened." She said when he sat down.

"I still want to know how you found out about that."

"There are very few secrets in a girl's dorm." Christine Lily answered.

"Alright. Are you ready for tryouts?" Eric asked. "I'll meet you down at the Quidditch Pitch in ten minutes."

"I'll be there." She said getting up.

Eric got his broom and saw Christine Lily ready to go.

"Show me a few laps."

Christine Lily got on the broom and took off.

Eric had never seen Christine Lily fly before. If he knew she could fly like that he would have put her on the tryouts at the first of the year. She did dives and curves and flew the broom just inches from the ground without touching.

"Let's see how you do with these." Eric pulled out some gulf balls and started throwing them around for her to catch. He then started using his wand to send them in odd ball directions. She caught them one right after the other.

Eric then heard applauding behind him.

"I want her in on next practice." Carr said. "That was very well done. I'll speak with about getting her a broom. She is a first year, right?"

"Yes. I know her dad will be more than willing to get her a broom for Christmas."

"Then its done. You're in charge of her though. Make sure she doesn't get into trouble." Carr said before heading in.

Christine Lily came down finally. "Well?" She asked.

"Next practice. Carr is going to see about letting you have a broom."

Christine Lily hugged Eric before heading into dinner.