This is actually my first piece of work so I hope I do ok and some people enjoy. I welcome any constructive criticism but please don't just slate it because you feel like attacking me.
Summary: Well Oliver Wood goes back to Hogwarts ten years after leaving it to try and cope with the past years of his life.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter, Everything included for instance names and places are the property of J.K.Rowling and Warner bros.
Rating: K+
Reunion
Crozza
Oliver looked up to the once glorious castle now standing in ruins. So much had happened since he had left. He had endured so much pain over the past years that he needed to come back and visit the last place standing that he had ever felt safe. Everywhere that had ever felt safe to him had been destroyed by You-Know-Who and his dreaded death eaters. As he looked upon the castle he began to feel something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He was filled with the kind of hope he hadn't felt since the war began. He thought back to his days at Hogwarts, remembering the years he lay around on the lawn watching everyone running around and practicing magic learnt in their previous lessons.
He moved towards the castle gate pushing it open and stepping onto the school grounds. The first thing he noticed was the Whomping Willow standing in the middle of the lawn charred and black. It had been burned when the death eaters attacked Hogwarts three years ago. He had read about the attack in the Daily Prophet whilst In Romania.
When he had returned to England everything had been different. The war had begun and everyone lived in fear of what would happen to them. He joined the Ministry Of Magic in the fight against the Death Eaters and fought alongside them for two years. During that time he saw people tortured, killed and taken control of. It had become too hard for him to cope with. He had spent the last year hiding away from the war as best he could, trying to get over the horror he had been apart of. He had spent much of his time travelling. It was the only way to escape the following Death Eaters.
He began walking slowly towards the castle doors. Every step he took brought him closer to the real reason he was here. He was dreading the conversation but knew it had to be done. There were one group of people who could help him. He had been thinking about this day for the past year. Thinking it over in his head whether he should or shouldn't contact them, but it was only now that he realised something that made him shiver. What would happen if the Death Eaters had already got to them? He tried to focus on anything else but all he could see was them lying on the floor, stone cold or under the cruciatus curse. Riving in agony as a death eater stood over them laughing wickedly. He stopped walking and fell to his knees. He couldn't bear to think about that. He didn't think he could cope if anything had happened to them. He raised his head and glanced towards the lake. A single tear ran down his face at the thought of them in pain. He lifted his hand and wiped the tear from his face. He continued to kneel on the pathway trying to push the thoughts out of his mind. His knees began to freeze to the hard concrete floor. Realising this he lifted himself onto his feet trying to regain his composure. He took a step forwards dragging himself onwards towards the castle. His mind was fighting against the idea of going inside. Every step was an effort. He tried to convince himself it would help but he couldn't stop thinking about what was inside. He stopped walking and stood at the foot of the steps leading to the oak front door. Both sides of his mind fought about whether to turn around and walk away or carry on to find what he was looking for.
Ten minutes later he finally decided to enter the castle. He began to walk forwards still trying not to think about what he could find. He reached the Front doors eventually and tried to open them. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't budge the doors at all. He assumed they had been magically locked. He removed his wand from the seam of his coat and placed it upon the door handle. "Alohomora!" He said and the door creaked softly on its hinges. He tried to open it again pushing with all his might but the door still wouldn't budge. Putting his wand away in the seam of his coat he began to move around the castle looking for another way inside.
He searched the castle wall and found no other entrance. As he turned the corner of one of the towers he noticed a broken window halfway along the wall. He moved forward and looked inside to check if anyone was there. Looking inside he recognised it as his old transfiguration classroom. He climbed through the window and quietly lowered himself inside. Dust covered most of the desks and walls with spiders running along mindlessly. He walked through the classroom looking at the books on desks. The attack had obviously started during lessons because he noticed the same transfiguration book on every desk. As he reached the door he slowed down. Raising his hand he slowly turned the handle and opened the door onto the entrance hall. He looked through the door towards the stairs and could see marks on them and all over the walls from a poorly fought battle. He could see no evidence other than the marks on the walls to show there had ever been an attack. He saw this as a good sign and moved towards the stairs. As he moved towards them he noticed the stairs weren't moving the way they used to. Maybe since everyone left they saw no reason to. He didn't know or care.
He reached the floor he had come to see and walked out onto the landing. The picture of the fat lady was gone. He moved towards the spot where it used to be but saw only the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. He stopped at the entrance and breathed deeply. Whatever had happened he would find out inside. He closed his eyes trying to prepare himself for what he was about to do.
"Wood?" A voice drifted out of the common room and met him where he stood. He quickly opened his eyes and looked inside. He noticed three people standing around the fire. Slowly he breathed a sigh of relief on seeing who it was. He stepped through the threshold slowly telling himself he had been stupid to have worried about them. They were more than capable of taking care of themselves.
"Hi guys." He said softly to them before smiling slightly as he moved forwards into the room.
Thanks for reviewing! I said I was gonna try to reply to them all and I thought the best way would be do it here so here goes:
imakeeper
Sorry about confusing you if its about the ending then the second chapter will hopefully sort out any confusion or at least I hope it will. We'll find out when I finish it.
Veritasindolentiaadamo
Thank You Mel!
I've tried to change the mistakes you pointed out but wasn't sure about the ones in the first paragraph. I'll ask you later on.
Thanks For The Review!
Thanks for reviewing everyoneand I hope to get the next chapter finishedby next week (Knocks On Wood) So I'll talk to everyone later.