AU: Oliver Wood has fallen for his new neighbor, who happens to be an American witch. Romantic fluffy fic taking place during CoS, but from the p.o.v. of Oliver's love interest, Laura.
Oh, and J.K. Rowling owns everything in the wizarding world, I've just set my character, Laura, into it. So please let her stay for a little while, she (and the author) mean no harm.
Chapter 10
A Handy Spare Classroom
I made my way through the castle, not sure if I was supposed to be out after dinner or not. I didn't run into anyone, and was trying to get to the Quidditch field, when I evidently took a wrong turn and ended up in a new corridor that ran along the outside wall of the castle. Through the huge windows I could see the school grounds spreading out before me, with the sun setting gold and orange on the horizon. I realized, after I had walked past, that I didn't need to go find Oliver outside, I had found him inside. He was leaning against a window, staring out onto the ground, from where you could see the tall Quidditch goal posts in the distance, framed against the setting sun. He did not seem to notice me.
"Oliver?" I said tentatively.
He startled a little, but turned to look at me. "Hey," was his reply.
I leaned against the window, opposite to him and looked out at where he was staring. "It's beautiful," I commented, "Seeing the grounds from here, with the sun set and all.
"Yeah," he grunted.
I swallowed the little pride I had left and finally blurted out, "I'm sorry for being so rude at dinner. The girls had been asking me about the relationship between you and I right before you walked in. And they didn't believe me when I said we were just friends."
"Is that what you think we are, just friends?"
"No," I replied fervently, "err, well, I don't really know what we are." I knew I was blushing. "It's just that, on the train you said how you had this rough Quidditch player reputation, and you said your team would tease you, so I didn't want to say something that would embarrass you or hurt your reputation."
To my surprise he laughed. "Believe me, I can handle my team. If they tease me I'll make sure we have extra long practices early in the morning, on the weekends even."
I laughed too. "So what do you think we are?" I asked out of curiosity.
He looked at me seriously, "I'm not going to lie, Laura, I want us to be more than friends, but I don't want to feel like I'm taking advantage of your feelings when you are feeling alone in a new place. I want you to like me because you like me, not because you just moved here and miss your old friends."
"You think that is why I like you?" I laughed. "I would have noticed you even if I was standing in the middle of a group of all my friends from home."
He smiled and grabbed my hand to pull me closer to him, but just as he put his other hand on my waist we heard a light mewing from behind us. Turning around, I saw a calico cat with shining lamp like eyes just staring at us; she mewed again and then disappeared down the hall.
"Great, just what I need," exclaimed Oliver.
"Not a cat person?" I asked.
"Not that cat, it belongs to Filch. He's kind of like the janitor, but he also despises the students and he'd love to get us in trouble the first day back. His cat is his spy. Come on, we have to get out of here." He grabbed my hand and we went running down the hall in the opposite way than the cat had gone.
"Shouldn't we be going back to the common room?" I breathed.
"No, no time," he answered as we hurtled down another corridor. He pulled me inside an empty classroom and shut the door behind us. A few seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps coming quickly up the hallway and a cat meowing.
"Where did they go, my pet?" I heard an old man wheeze, "we'll find those nasty little rule breakers won't we?" The steps faded as they continued down the corridor, and Oliver breathed a sign of relief and then grinned at me.
"I'm beginning to understand why Fred and George get such an adrenaline rush from running from Filch," he said, catching his breath, "now where were we?"
I had no time to answer his rhetorical question before he had grabbed me round the waist and pulled me against him. Before I knew what was happening he was kissing me, on the lips! My first reaction was to tense up, but then I realized that I liked this, and completely relaxed, kissing him back.
We broke away for a second, "So does this mean we are dating?" I whispered, enjoying how warm his arms felt around me.
My answer came in the form of another taste of his lips. Relaxing into his arms again, I let one of my hands slide up his back and run through his hair, pulling him even closer to me as I kissed him back.
Half an hour later Oliver poked his head out the door to check and see that the coast was clear. Filch was long gone, as was the daylight, and the castle looked creepy in the dark. Oliver and I crept back along the corridors. He was in front, checking every corner, as I followed silently behind, gripping his hand tightly. We made it safely back to the common room, which was mostly deserted by now. There were a few over achievers still working on homework, but no one paid us much mind as we tip toed in. At my staircase he bid me goodnight and I walked airily up to my dorm. I felt like singing, or shouting, or doing something to get rid of all my happy energy. The other girls were already in our room, but no one was asleep. Audrey, Chloe, and Kitty were on the floor, playing a game of exploding snap and Brianna and Danielle were in their beds, reading by the light of bedside candles.
I tried to creep in as silently as possible, but it is kind of obvious when the door creaks open and someone walks in. I didn't say anything to them, but Audrey, Chloe, and Kitty exchanged looks with each other and then went back to their game. I changed silently into my shorts and t-shirt and crawled under my covers, I was just reaching over to pull the curtains closed around my bed when Chloe got up quickly.
"Laura, we want to apologize for bothering you so much at dinner tonight about Oliver," she said.
"Yeah," piped in Kitty, "we didn't mean to pry and make things awkward for you."
"These three are the gossips of the school, if you hadn't noticed," added Brianna from her bed, Danielle was nodding her head in agreement, "but they don't mean anything by it. We've just got used to it after six years, and they forget that you are new."
"Exactly," emphasized Kitty, then realizing that she had been called a gossip added, "Hey!" and a nasty look at Brianna, who just shrugged and went back to her book.
"Well, it's just that we have never really seen Oliver very chummy with any other girls than the ones on the Quidditch team. So we figured if he was going to date someone, it would be one of them. We were just wondering if there was more to him than we were seeing?" Audrey explained. The others shook their heads in agreement and stood there looking at me, as if trying to will an answer out of me.
"I know about his tough, jock like image," I replied, "but I've never seen that side of him."
"Just wait till Quidditch season starts," snorted Danielle.
Audrey, Kitty, and Chloe looked like I had their full attention now. So I continued, "So I was just talking with Oliver, cause I didn't know what he wanted me to say to you guys when you were asking me all those questions. I didn't want to ruin his reputation or make his team look down on him."
"Ahhhh, that's soo sweet," cooed Kitty.
"Anyway," I went on, feeling my face flush "I guess its ok for me to tell you now that he and I are dating."
A tremendous, "Awwwwww," filled the room. Brianna rolled her eyes at her three roomies and gave me an 'I'm so sorry' look before blowing out her candle and pulling her curtains shut.
I turned and looked longingly at the blank piece of parchment on my nightstand, and with a pang realized that I had told the girls here before I had told my best friends from at home. In fact, I realized with horror, I hadn't even thought of running up here and writing to them until now. I promised myself that I would write to them tomorrow right after class got out. Still feeling horrible, I wrenched the curtains shut around my four-poster and buried my head in my pillow.
Once again I got out of bed grudgingly the next morning. I hadn't realized how effective curtains around a bed were to keep a person warm, and I shivered when I was hit with a cooler rush of air as I pulled them back. Stretching and yawning loudly I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and then slid into my robes. I was half way through putting on my second sock when Chloe skipped into the room, a mischievous grin on her face.
"Hehe, your boyfriend is downstairs waiting for you. Its soooo cute, he's in love."
"Go away," I grumbled. I was not a morning person.
"I hope you won't be that grumpy with Oliver," she joked and I flung a pillow at her. By now my shoes were on, and all that was left to do was my hair. I spent more time in front of the mirror than usual, especially since all I was doing was pulling my hair into a tight ponytail.
"You look beautiful, dear," said my mirror monotonously after I had been standing there for ten minutes. Settling for the mirror's opinion, I grabbed by books and practically skipped down the stairs.
Oliver was waiting for me just like Chloe had said. He was reclining in a puffy chair near the fire, and it looked like he was trying not to fall back asleep.
"Good morning," I said cheerfully, plopping down next to him.
He gave me that look that tired people give you when you are bouncing around full of energy and they are ready to die.
"Ohhh, not a morning person eh? Maybe this will make you feel better." I gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
He smiled and laughed, "that makes it a little better."
So I kissed him again, a little longer this time. "Having a good morning yet?"
"Hmmm," he hummed, "almost."
I laughed and said, "don't expect this every morning," as I tilted his head and kissed him for a third time. Eventually I had to push him away, or we would miss all of breakfast and the beginning of our first class.
"Come on, I want to get something to eat before class."
He smiled mischievously, "You know what I would like to eat for breakfa…."
I put my hand over his mouth, "Don't go there. A guy friend from home, Alex, always used to use that joke when anyone mentioned food."
"What?" he said, trying and failing to look innocent, "I was just going to say I wanted some toast."
"Uh huh," I replied sarcastically as I rolled my eyes.
A double period of charms was my and Oliver's first class of the day. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing when I walked in and saw tiny Professor Flitwick standing on top of a stack of books so he would be level with the first row of desks. Today was a revue lesson, he explained to us once everyone had arrived. We were to get into pairs and go around the room to various stations, practicing the charms we had learned up till this year. When the students heard this, we were all excited. A practical lesson beat taking notes any day of the week.
Oliver and I stuck together as usual, and we went down onto the classroom floor to find an empty station. The first charm we practiced was the banishing charm. Professor Flitwick had set stacks of pillows up in two semi circles and two boxes about ten feet away. In the mood for some friendly competition I turned, grinning, to Oliver. "Bet I can get all my pillows in the box before you can."
He gave me a once over, probably trying to decide on how good I was at charms. He had, after all, seen the list of courses I could take, so he had a fair idea of how I had done on my O.W.L.'s. "You're on," he finally said.
"Oh, and no letting me win cause I'm your girlfriend," I ordered.
He just grinned back at me. "Ready, set," we pulled out our wands, "go!"
Moving steadily I moved around my semi circle of pillows, banishing each one successfully into the far box, however, Oliver was only a few steps behind me. My last pillow was just soaring into the box, when out of nowhere another pillow knocked mine off course, and fell itself, into my box.
"Hey, no fair, you cheated," I exclaimed.
"You said not to let you win," he replied, laughing smugly.
I gave him a crooked smile, "just wait, I'll get you back eventually."
He just laughed at my threat and said, "come on, the next station is open."
Next was the stunning station. The idea was to stun your partner and have him or her fall onto a stack of cushions and then revive them.
"I'll go first," Oliver volunteered with a slight gulp. "I always hated this exercise."
It took me a few moments to compose myself before I could actually cast the charm. Oliver was standing stock still, his hands at his side, his eyes close. He reminded me of a prisoner who had been led out in front of the firing squad, and was waiting for fate's blow. Knowing I should feel slightly guilty for stunning my boyfriend, I raised my wand and shouted, "Stupefy!"
Oliver fell, luckily, straight onto the pillows. I stood over him for a few seconds, very amused by the expression on his face, before finally pointing my wand at his head and saying, "Ennervate!" Instantly his eyelids fluttered open and he sat up. "Not so bad, now was it?" I asked.
He ignored the question and said, somewhat too cheerfully for my taste, "Your turn."
I stood in front of my landing pad, relaxed, and still holding my wand. I didn't close my eyes; instead I stared straight at Oliver, waiting for him to make his move.
He raised his wand, and right as he said, "Stupefy!" I swept my wand in front of me, crying, "Protego!" and activating the Shield Charm. Standing calmly, I watched Oliver's spell hit my invisible shield, causing it to shimmer for a second, before it bounced back at him. He ducked at the last minute to avoid it, and it hit the ceiling and dissolved into the air. I waved my wand again and the Shield Charm was deactivated.
"You cheated," he exclaimed, looking very angry. I was about to point out, in my defense, that he had cheated on the banishing charm exercise, but before I could he smiled and started laughing. "I guess I deserved that."
Eventually I let myself be stunned, but only after Oliver took my wand just to make sure I wasn't going to cheat again. We worked our way around the room, performing summoning charms, levitating charms, and several others to refresh our memories.