Oliver pretended that seeing Tiannah and Cedric together didn't hurt. Every time that he saw Diggory kiss her cheek, lace his fingers with hers, smile at her... he felt an animalistic rush that made him want to rip his head off. Only Hestia really saw how much he was hurting, and it pained her to see how sad he was.
Tiannah, Oliver, Ken and Hestia had made their way back from the Halloween feast, when they spotted Filch's cat, Mrs Norris, apparently dead. There was writing on the wall, saying: The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware. Hestia and Tiannah exchanged nervous glances.
Nothing like this had ever happened at The Salem Witches Institute.
The first Quidditch match of the season was drawing closer. Oliver had been training the team very hard, and he thought they were in for a good chance. The match was against Slytherin, however, and they had superior broomsticks.
On the morning of the Quidditch game, Oliver didn't eat his food. Tiannah knew that he tended to do that when he was nervous, and it worried her.
"Ollie, come on, just a little bit of toast," she said gently.
"You don't care, Tia. Go kiss your boyfriend," he spat angrily. Tiannah was a bit confused by his unnecessary venom, but put it down to bad nerves.
"Oliver, even if I have a boyfriend, we will always be best friends. Of course I care. Now, are you going to eat some toast, or will I have to shove it down your throat?"
He begrudgingly grinned at Tiannah's fierce expression.
"You were brilliant!"
"Thanks, Ollie."
The Quidditch match had gone really well, apart from the rouge bludger. They had won! Oliver was beside himself with happiness, until he saw that Cedric was approaching Tiannah.
"Hey, Tiannah. You did great!" he said, smiling down at his girlfriend.
"Thanks, Ced," said Tiannah, giving him a hug.
Hestia could see the hurt look in Oliver's eyes, so she approached him.
"Ollie, can I talk to you?" she asked carefully. Tiannah looked curiously at her friend, who shrugged.
Oliver and Hestia walked to the edge of the showers. Once out of view of anyone, she rounded on him, business-like expression on her face.
"You like Tiannah," she stated simply.
Oliver scoffed and looked away from Hestia. "That's ridiculous," he said, but could feel his cheeks colouring.
"Well that's the most obvious lie I've ever heard. You're an idiot, you know that? She had a crush on you in the summer, and so did you. You should have just told her."
Hestia immediately regretted what she said. Oliver froze, frowning.
"She... she had a crush on me?"
"Yes, she did. She thought it was pointless because you two have been friends for so long. And you didn't make a move, so she moved on."
Oliver stared at Hestia in shock. He felt like hitting himself for being such a fool. He and Tiannah had told each other everything their whole lives; why couldn't he just admit how he felt?! If what Hestia said was true, she had felt the same way… but she didn't anymore. That made his heart sink.
Hestia noticed the crestfallen expression on his face. "Oliver, I'm sorry. She really likes Cedric, but I really don't think they'll last. I think she still likes you – maybe even always will."
"Don't patronize me," Oliver said quietly. "I don't have a chance in hell with her." He pushed past Hestia and went to have a shower, all joy at winning the match gone.
Tiannah heard from Fred Weasley that Colin Creevey, a first year Gryffindor, had been petrified. She felt quite nervous. Cedric noticed how nervous she was one afternoon, and he took her out to the lake. It was drawing close to winter, and Tiannah couldn't be happier with Cedric as her boyfriend.
"You don't have to be nervous," Cedric whispered into her hair. "I'll protect you."
Tiannah smiled, but the comment rubbed her the wrong way. She was perfectly capable of looking after herself. Anyone who knew her knew that. The first seed of doubt about Cedric had been planted in her mind.
Oliver noticed that Tiannah didn't seem herself that night as they studied in the common room. He put his quill down and rolled up his sheet of parchment, waiting until Tiannah noticed that he had packed up. When she did, she raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"We're nowhere near finished. Are you seriously putting away your homework early to go through Quidditch formation ideas again?"
Oliver smiled and shook his head. "No, although that sounds like a brilliant idea. Somethings up with you."
"Nothings up with me," Tiannah said quickly, fiddling with her quill. Oliver stared until she sighed and caved in. "Fine. Relationship problems, I guess. Although there isn't an actual problem."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently, ignoring the stab of jealousy at the word relationship.
"It's just… well, I don't know Cedric very well, do I? And he doesn't know me. All this Chamber of Secrets stuff… it's got me on edge. He said he'd protect me… but I don't need protection. I can be nervous about something and still deal with it myself, you know?"
"I do know," Oliver said, grinning. "I remember how wound up you'd get before little league matches. But you'd absolutely refuse any hugs from your parents – you've always managed things on your own."
"Exactly," Tiannah said, relief on her features at being understood. "You get it, Ollie. And don't get me wrong, I know he was just being nice… but I can just imagine how you and Hestia would have laughed at him saying he'd protect me. I'm not some damsel in distress."
"No," he agreed. "You're not." He felt a bit better; seemingly, all was not going well in their relationship, and whilst he felt selfish for feeling good about that he knew there was no use trying to fight that feeling. He liked her, and he wanted to be with her. As simple as that. And already, it didn't look as though Cedric was the one for her.
"If only Cedric understood me like you do," she said, turning red as she realised what had just come out of her mouth. She laughed nervously. "I better get back to my homework, or McGonagall will skin me alive."
Oliver watched as Tiannah fumbled for her quill and unrolled her parchment. He wondered if Hestia was right.