Myman-harry526: It would be moving WAY too fast if I did that… (:
Chapter Twelve
"Hermione, they're okay. They're okay. Oliver's okay."
Hermione removed a strip of clothing from Mike's body and held in her breath.
"No…" she whispered. Charlie hopped on one foot over to her and took a sharp intake of air.
"Shit…" There, on Mike's side, was a green bite mark. He was the last victim of Fenrir Greyback. Hermione gulped down the lump in her throat and went to the medicinal cupboard for antiseptic.
She cleaned Mike's cuts and looked out the window for the state of the moon.
"He's not going to transform for another three weeks. How long did it take Bill to recover?" she asked quietly. Charlie wrapped a bandage around Mike's arm.
"I don't know, it was a long time ago… a couple of months, but he was in a worse – well, no… but from what I've read with Bill, if you get bitten by any chance, the bite should heal in a week. The cuts are a different story, like with Bill." He gestured to Mike's and Oliver's battered bodies. "Oliver isn't too bad. Couple scratches on his legs, arms, and the one question hangs in the air: why the bloody hell does he have his shirt off?" Hermione held in her laughter. "What? Seriously! I mean, did Greyback try to rape him, or something? It makes me wonder, you know, what exactly has this world come to, where werewolves rape people and people rape house elves and house elves rape –"
"Hey, lay off the house elves. You know how Hermione is, and no, Greyback did not try to rape me, and he never did rape me. Shut up, Charlie. I'm trying to sleep." Oliver's eyes opened slightly and smiled at them. "Why are you cleaning up Mike and not me? That's not fair." Hermione hugged Oliver. "Ouch... ow, ow, ow… let go!"
"Oliver, there's something you need to know about Mike…" Charlie trailed off, looked from Oliver to his brother. "He got –"
"I know. Why do you think I'm here? I got knocked out after he got bitten, remember?" With difficulty, Oliver sat up. "Did anyone get my wand?" Charlie hopped to his stretcher and gave it back to Oliver.
"I thought you said you killed Dolohov," Charlie said. Oliver looked up and drank a glass of water deeply.
"Well, obviously I didn't, seeing as he was in the hallway…"
The Hospital doors opened again. Ashley Clearwater, Shane Prewitt and Dominick McKinnon came through.
"What – Ash! Shane! Dom! You guys shouldn't –"
"We know, we know," Dominick said. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. Where's Mike?" Charlie shook his head and pointed to the opposite end of the room.
"You can't see him yet, you three shouldn't even be here."
"Why? Is it that bad?" Ashley asked fearfully.
"Look at me for a second," Oliver said. The three sixteen-year-olds threw a glance at him. "Good. Now think this…" Oliver motioned to his body. "Times twenty." Ashley scrunched up her nose and looked at Hermione, who closed curtains around Mike's bed.
"Is it fatal?" she asked quietly.
"No, I think we bandaged him up well enough for him to lose any major amounts of blood… so no, I don't think so…" Charlie trailed off and looked around the room. "I haven't been in this room since the Quidditch Cup in 1991…"
"Can we stay?" Shane inquired, sitting down at the edge of Oliver's bed. Oliver glanced at Charlie and Hermione, who shrugged each in turn.
"If someone comes in, you have to hide somewhere."
"Where?"
"I don't care, as long as you don't get caught. We could get into trouble for not sending you guys back to the dormitories." Hermione then walked over to Oliver's bed and began cleaning his wounds wordlessly. He inhaled sharply and snapped his eyes shut. When the stinging ceased, he relaxed a little and smiled lazily at Hermione. "That shit really hurts." She laughed, leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips, running her tongue over his bottom lip. Charlie looked away, rolling his eyes. The doors swung open once again. Blaise hopped through with the support of Ginny and Theodore.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked Blaise. He grimaced as he was set on top of a bed beside Charlie's.
"I think I sprained my ankle. Maybe a fracture…"
"How?"
"…You'll laugh."
"I will not."
"…I fell down the stairs." Oliver and Charlie burst out laughing as Hermione glanced at them in disapproval.
"I'm sure you were trying to get away from a Death Eater or something, right, Blaise?" Ginny and Theodore began laughing too as Blaise looked up at Hermione.
"No. I just fell down the stairs." Then, Oliver turned to the three sixth year friends of Mike.
"…You three didn't hide." The doors opened again. Once again, no one had tried to hide. Everyone that had come from the Order walked through. McGonagall ignored them and walked to Oliver's bed.
"Are you all right?" she asked. Oliver grinned.
"Aw, are you actually worried about me? Me? Oliver Wood that always pestered you about practice time…"
"Charlie, are you all right?" McGonagall cut him off. Charlie nodded, but looked off to Mike's bed draped with a curtain. When McGonagall opened her mouth, Blaise held up a hand.
"I'm fine." McGonagall nodded and made her way to Mike's bed.
"Oliver, can I go see Mike?" Ashley asked in a small voice. "I don't care how bad it is." Shane and Dominick looked to Oliver. He sighed, scratched his head and nodded.
"Tell McGonagall I let you." The three of them scurried off like mice to McGonagall. Ashley covered her mouth with her hand and began to shake with silent tears.
"Oh, my God," Shane whispered. Dominick put his arm around Ashley in a comforting gesture. Oliver threw his head back onto his pillow and sighed.
Four days later, he, Mike, Ginny and Hermione were back at the house. Mike, because he had to be away from school.
"Feeling better?" Oliver asked when he saw his brother limping down the stairs. Already he could see the changes the curse had given him – his features were more hardened, but he still kept the same air around him. His attitude hadn't changed, that was evident.
"I feel better than you look," he said with a smirk.
"Shut up, I'm healing, okay?" Mike threw his right hand up and grinned.
"So, you're like, allowed to be with Hermione now, right? Since you're in the Order now and all…"
"Whoever said I was in the Order?"
"You must have been if you were at the school. Oliver, come on, I'm not a stupid twelve-year-old anymore."
"I believe the word is 'daft'."
"Get out of the nineties."
"I am out of the nineties."
"Then you'll find out that we don't use the word 'daft' anymore."
"I'm proud of the past."
"Shush before I bite you."
"Get out of the nineties; I believe the words are 'shut up'." Mike and Oliver glared at each other for a bit until the Twins came into the living room.
"I can't believe Ginny and that Slytherin are dating…"
"'That Slytherin' has a name!" Ginny's voice sounded from her room. As if on cue, Blaise apparated into the house in front of the Twins.
"Hello, family." He walked past Fred and George towards the kitchen. Fred and George glared daggers at his back.
"Gin, Blaise is here!" Oliver called up the stairs. Mike followed Blaise to the kitchen as Ginny came hopping down the stairs. Literally hopping. She ran into the kitchen and there was a loud slap.
"Ow!"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Leave me alone!"
"Your brother and your sister –"
"I just got out of hospital!"
"-Have been kidnapped –"
"Ginny!"
"-And you use me –"
"Sorry!"
"-To get information on the Order –"
"Ginny, stop."
"-Then you nearly get killed by a werewolf –"
"That was not my fault!"
"-Then after that, you run into some Death Eaters and become unconscious –"
"Okay, now you're just –"
"-You made me worry about you! THAT MEANS I CARE! ARGH! YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT!"
"How am I an idiot? You're not making any sense!"
As sudden as it started, it was quiet. Fred and George made to go into the kitchen, probably to hex or curse Blaise, but Oliver stopped them.
"Don't do that," he whispered. "They've been going out for about four months now, since June."
Hermione came down the stairs. Oliver let go of the twins momentarily to smile at her, but when he turned back to them, they were already sprinting down the hallway to the kitchen. The yelling started all over again. He threw his hands in the air, giving up, and sat down on the couch.
"Hey," Hermione greeted and sat down beside him. She leaned over and gave Oliver a chaste kiss on the lips. He smiled and draped his arm around her shoulders.
"So, what does this mean, now? Are we together now, or what?" Hermione shrugged, just to tease him. ""Cause, I mean, you know… I like you, a lot, and –"
"You're babbling," Hermione interrupted. "Do you always babble when you're around a girl you like?"
"I'm not babbling."
"You were babbling."
"Yeah, whatever. Pfft." Hermione laughed and reached over to play with his hair. "No touchy."
"I can touch whatever I please." Oliver raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Really, now?"
"You're sick." Oliver smiled, kissed Hermione on the cheek and sighed.
"Should we check if the twins killed Blaise yet?"
"No. This is nice."
"I have to go soon. Lupin wants me to bring Mike back to school. Come with me?" Hermione nodded and looked down at her stomach.
"What names would you want for a baby?" she asked.
"I liked Lynn for a girl, but I like Landon more for a boy. It's your baby, so you should be the one to choose the name. I have Quidditch practice right after going to Hogwarts; want to go to that, too?"
"Yeah, sure… I haven't seen you play Quidditch yet professionally." Oliver grinned.
"You're sure you want to meet all the guys on my team? Some of them are pretty obnoxious."
"Dimitrius will protect me, I'm sure."
"Why Dim?"
"Because he's bigger than you."
"Ouch."
"Sorry." Oliver nuzzled Hermione affectionately and kissed her cheek.
"Not my fault that I'm not fat. I just have good genes."
"Excellent genes."
"Amazing genes."
"Extraordinary genes."
"You're so weird."
"I like you."
"That sounds really corny, but I like you too."
A/N:
I'M BACK! YAY!
WHEE! I GOT LIKE SO MANY REVIEWS LAST CHAPTER I LOVE YOU ALL!
Mchs-angel08
FredWeasleyLover1126
Dagworth
Malfoy-Jacky
Moony's-Wolf
rock-the-casbah18
Sheila!
Be1101
myman-harry526
Charlie K.
Drew: …You're so weird…
Jason: You're so mean…
Bryan: You're so… stupid…
slythringrl
Madam Sorceress
pottersgirl91
Emelie!
Johnwsgirl
Jo-AnnMarie
HPFanatics311
THANK YOU!