Chapter 8:

Oliver stood still, not believing what he just heard. "Excuse me?" He asked. His voice was level. His mother grabbed her head, trying to be dramatic. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN!" He was getting angry now. She started sobbing again.

"Haven't you ever wondered why your father left? Why you never see him?"

"You said he had a new girlfriend." Oliver could feel his legs buckling underneath him. What the hell is going on, he thought.

"Oh stop being so goddamn ignorant." She paused for dramatic effect. "He had a new boyfriend! Your father liked dick more than I did. Why do you think you shag men?"

"Stop." Oliver wrapped his arms around himself. His voice was quiet, almost forced.

"Because he forced you to!" Oliver looked up, dumbfounded. He walked away towards the door. He needed support. His mother stepped towards him. "You don't remember, I put a memory charm on you when you were very young. Your father raped you." Oliver could feel tears form in his eyes.

"Stop," he said between sobs. "Please."

"He raped you, that's why he left. I forced him to leave you alone."

"I don't want to hear this." Flashes of memories came to him. His mother broke the memory charm when she mentioned it to him. He didn't remember much, but it was enough to break him.

"I know I shouldn't tell you. I know that you can remember everything he did to you now, but you have to know why you do what you do." Oliver looked at her, a fierce fire in his eyes.

"So because of what he did is the reason I became gay, is that what you're saying!" She lowered her eyes. She tried so hard to make her life a movie. Well she succeeded. Telling her son how his father raped him as a child while he cried. Very soap opera.

"I know it. Your father made you sleep with men and now you sleep with men. Do you think that's a coincidence?"

"Get the fuck out of here!" he yelled. He didn't want to see her anymore.

"Oliver, please forgive me! I hate that I upset you."

"Lying bitch." Oliver muttered. He knew she heard him. She smacked him hard across the face. Without hesitation he punched her in the face. She fell back on the floor. She looked up at him horrified. He didn't care. He opened the door and left the apartment before she could speak. He ran down the street towards the park. He bumped into several people as he ran. Finally he reached the park. The air was chilly, the trees were bare and lifeless, the ground was covered in white snowflakes. His surroundings looked peaceful. Calm. It relaxed him.

Oliver took a seat at the nearest bench. It was cold under him. He tried to think of ways his mother was wrong. Any way possible. She was always crazy. She made the whole thing up. She thought it happened when it really didn't. Yeah, that made sense. I mean, let's face it, she was never fully there. Oliver's father was never into men. He left because his wife was psychotic, not because he was hurting his son.

Oliver knew there was only one way to find out if that was true. And he didn't really feel like talking to his father right now. At least when he was so upset. He had someone else he had to confront.

Oliver stood up and sneaked off into the woods. He walked in deep enough till there was no one in sight, and he was sure no one could see him. He closed his eyes tightly and thought about the Three Broomsticks. He thought about getting to the Three Broomsticks.

He could feel a pulling at his torso as he went soaring through space. Within a few moments he was back on the ground. He could hear many different sounds around him. The clanking of mugs and glasses, people talking in several different tongues. Chairs being moved in and out. He opened his eyes. Rose stood on the other side of the bar. She hadn't noticed him. She was busy, arguing with a man at the bar.

"I don't care about your mother's death bed, if you couldn't afford to drink then you shouldn't have ordered seven drinks!" Oliver smiled. He walked up and sat next to the man in debt.

"My poor mum, she can' even lift 'er 'ead no more. I've been givin' 'er all the money I got. Bu' I don' think that's enough I don'."

"Are you even listening to me? I don't care if your mother needs your money. If you didn't have any money you shouldn't even be in here! Now bloody pay up or I'll have your guts for garters!" Rose looked very angry and very serious about her threat. Oliver knew the man next to him was afraid to find out if her threat would hold. He didn't want to risk it. He threw some galleons on the counter before running out of the pub, tripping on the doorway as he went.

Oliver chuckled as he watched the man head down the road. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Oliver Wood, back again?" Oliver turned back to Rose. He smiled a genuine smile at her.

"Hello Rose, how have you been?"

"Better than you I suppose."

"What do you mean?" Oliver didn't understand. How could Rose know about his father?

"I mean there are rumors being spread about you. About all of your, well, conquests. Its been spreading around town for days. A lot of the men in town have lost respect for you." Oliver put his face in his hands. Why was he paying so much for something so incredibly ridiculous? "The others that haven't are the ones you shared a bed with at least once. Oliver what is going on? Why am I hearing about this from so many other people?" Oliver sighed heavily.

"Because I slept with Draco Malfoy." He lifted his head. "That's why. My life went to hell when I told Harry fucking Potter that I fucked Draco Malfoy." His eyes were cold as he looked directly into Rosemerta's eyes. "He told my mother I'm gay. She came to my apartment and claimed that my father used to rape me." Rose's eyes widened and her jaw fell to the floor. "Yeah. But, I'm the bad guy."

"Oliver," she started. She didn't know what else t say.

"I have to find him. I have to talk to him. If that fails, kick the bloody shit out of him for fucking me over like this."

"Oliver, the next trip to Hogsmeade isn't until January. I'm sorry." Oliver dropped his head onto the bar. "However," he lifted his head up hopefully. "The first task of the Triwizard tournament is coming up. Everyone in town is going. You can come too and talk to him then." Oliver felt happy. That could work.

"When is it?"

"Next week." Oliver nodded. He didn't like having to wait so long to confront that kid about this. But he at least knew that he wouldn't calm down in this week.

Wow, ok, that took like, forever! Give me a break you're lucky I finished it at all, I was out of town, and now I have strep throat. ON MY VACATION! AHHHHHH! I blame Ack! She's my friend, I call her Ack. But she had strep throat. And she has given it to me! Grr.

Bob.