I didn't speak with Oliver after that brief meeting in the Common Room and the only good thing about it was that he seemed quite keen to avoid me as well, that made things a lot easier. School had started over a month ago and we were beyond tired: we were destroyed. I eventually managed to get three "E"s in a row in potion and Professor McGonagall kindly asked - thought I think she rather obliged- Snape to test me again on the Invisibility Infusion and I managed to get an "O" out of it, which left me pretty satisfied. What was really becoming difficult was Care of Magical Creatures. After a first booming lesson, in which Hagrid had been authorized to bring a Manticore from Greece -though it was safely took back home straight after the lesson- now we had mostly to look at pictures of Krups and try to draw them. I needed to study dragons, phoenixes and all sorts of beasts that are required in the art of wandmaking and so I had to do most of the work by myself. Of course if I wanted to thank someone for that lousy lessons that would've been Draco Malfoy who had been so clever to insult an hippogryph and was now complaining that he was wounded. Too bad that the hippogryph handn't chopped his head off, in my opinion, but I avoided telling this to other students as I was supposed to be the Head Girl, even if Percy was basically working for both of us.
Eventually it was set also a trip to Hogsmeade. I really couldn't wait to get a ton of chocolate and other stuff in Honeydukes and I needed a new quill, even if I bought my old one in Diagon Alley that summer I wrote so much that it was already useless. However my plans were ruined right the day before, as Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout gave us so many homework for monday that I doubted 48 hours would have been enough to complete it. A lot of seventh years were seen rather unhappy the morning after during breakfast, which meant that me and Eve wouldn't have been the only ones locked up in the library that day. I overheard Ron Weasley, Percy's youngest brother, telling Harry Potter that he was so sorry he couldn't go. Well, not only Seventh Years were staying in, then. We waved goodbye to our fellow gryffindors, including Percy, who was strolling down the carriages happily holding hands with Penelope Clearwater.
«Adrian, bring us a lot of chocolate!» I shouted at Adrian's back. He didn't give me an answer, but I hoped he had heard me.
I took the stairs back to our common room, followed by Eve, casting gloomy looks out of each window we passed.
«Can you believe even Percy's got a day off and we didn't?» she protested, as we entered the portrait hole.
«Well, if I know Percy he probably studied human semi-transfiguration during the summer and has written the two rolls of parchment as McGonagall was still talking» I replied, putting parchment, ink and my old quill in the bag, already heavy with the weight of my Herbology and Transfiguration books. Five minutes later we were heading to the library, our minds already settled on the amount of work ahead of us. Even if it was unusually full for being a Hogsmeade weekend,the library was still quite empty, so we had no trouble in finding our favourite table free. As I sat in front of Eve I looked around and spotted a couple of Ravenclaws, with their heads low on Charms books and a rather large group of Hufflepuffs. It was no surprise that no Slytherin was taking extra time to study. I decided that it was better to begin with the easiest stuff and I opened my copy of Wand Trees and Venomous Plants. It opened right at the begining of the chapter on holly because of a note put in there. I took it and let a long hiss out of my hiss when I read who wrote it. I handed it to Eve, who started giggling.
«Honestly, can't I even complain about my quill being terribly without him searching a way to fix it?» I complained in a low voice. I didn't want Madam Pince to throw us out.
«Oh c'mon Bill! Oliver just said that it was going to get you a new one in Hogsmeade, it's nothing that bad»
I started to note down the first infromations on holly
«He didn't offer to buy you the box of Chocolate Frogs you've been complaining about all evening, did he?» I asked, raising an eyebrow.
«Well no. But that's just because I'm not you»
I carried on writing as if I didn't hear her last sentence. With the name of holly (or, more properly, Ilex) we intend a genus of 600 species of plants in the family of Aquifoliaceae. Of all this species only three can be used to make a fine wand.
«Bill do not pretend you're not hearing me» Eve insisted.
Ilex aracamuniana, Ilex illustris and Ilex reticulata have, in fact, a particular characteristic in their wood given by the bowtruckles' habit to live next to them, who give those plants magical properties.
«Bill your acting very childishly, you know?»
«If you'd stop saying silly things I'll probably listen again!» I muttered, while reading another bit about holly and deciding it was not important.
«I'm not saying anything stupid, everybody knows the way Oliver feels about you, it's not your big secret!»
I looked at her in amazement, as far as I knew I had no big secrets at all and if I had one it was surely not about Oliver.
«What do you mean. Eve?» I asked, lowering my quill
«Oh hang on...you don't know?»
I shook my head.
«Well nevermind then...» she got back to her work without saying anything else.
«Eve!» I hissed «don't you dare leaving me this way! Now I want to know!»
Eve kept working, as if she was alone at that table. Who was acting childishly now? I pricked her with the tip of my quill till she finally looked up at me and then at her very inked hand.
«You are a very strange kind of best friend, you know that?» she said, shaking her blond curls.
«Me? How about you leaving me in the middle of a very interesting issue?»
«What's so interesting about it?» she asked me, with a smirk across her face.
«Don't you try that one on me and carry on, maybe I'll explain myself later»
She sighed, but eventually began to speak again. I was all ears.
«Do you remember when Bill Weasley asked you out?» I nodded, wondering how Bill was related with Wood. «Well, the same night, when you got back with the news, Oliver was waiting for you in the common room...»
«Yes, I remember that and I also remember me jumping next to him on the couch to tell him everything, now can we stop the lovely walk down my memory lane and get to the point?»
«I'm trying to but you keep interrupting me, really that's a terrible habit!» she tried to sound offended, but I could see she was still smiling. «So that night, right before you jumped on the seat next to him he was trying to collect all his courage to ask you out»
«WHAT?» I didn't even realize I was shouting. Of course three seconds later Madam Pince got there looking at us as if she was about to use a killing curse.
«Sorry, didn't realize we took a howling book from the forbidden section» I said, smiling widely in a most convincing innocent way. After a doubtful look she left, even if occasionally she turned to check that we were actually studying instead of chatting. While we were waiting for her vulture face to finally disappear I tried to recollect as many details as I could from that night.
«Eve?»
She raised an eyebrow to let me know she was listening.
«He was worried that night» she looked at me triumphantly «but it was because of quidditch, it was a week before the final!»
Eve laughed, burying is face in her hands so that nobody could hear her. I actually wondered what was she laughing about. It didn't seem that funny to me.
«That was the excuse Charlie served him in case it went badly...I suspect his brother told him something»
«Ok assuming you were right. it's been years!»
«It doesn't mean anything does it?»
«He dated that girl...Jackie, form Ravenclaw!» I was going to be right. I was used to be right, always.
«And didn't you notice that they broke up a few weeks after you and Bill?»
«You two!» snapped Madame Pince, appearing suddenly. It seemed that she had hidden behind the shelves to watch whether we were studying or not. «Get on different tables or leave the library, now!»
I grabbed my stuff and left the place as quickly as I could. I needed space to think and probably the best place was the Common Room. Usually first and second years were too scared by us to come and talk, or even try to disturb us. I sat in one armchair at the very end of the room. I had far too many thoughts swirling into my head at the moment to think about anything else, let along homework. It was just stupid that Oliver ever wanted to ask me out, he had stopped talking to me after all, someone who wanted to go out with me would have never have done that right? Or maybe, said a little voice inside my head, he did that to get over you. I silenced that little voice immediately. Oliver had never lasted long with girls because his heart was given to someone else, something else actually: quidditch. Everybody was happy with that, apart from his giggly-girly fan club, but then who cared about them? Satisfied with the explanation on how Oliver Wood never had any interest whatsover in me, because I wasn't a Quaffle, as a start, I got back to work, grinning. My good mood didn't last long though. I found myself writing the word "wood" too many times working on my herbology essay. When I got through it again I saw that most of the times I wrote "Wood" with capital letter and once I actually spoke about the quality of Elder Oliver. Furious I put it in my bag: I would have corrected it later. I started working on Transfiguration, happy to find out that semi-human transfiguration involved just animals, nobody ever tried to turn his legs in roots or something like that. The risk of using compromising word was definitely at a low rate this time. It took me hours to finish it, that was probably the most difficult essay McGonagall had ever given us. It was with utter satisfaction that I closed my book and put it again in my bag. I still had to correct Herbology, but I needed a minute to rest my eyes. Luckily I did that. A minute later all the others Gryffindors got back from Hogsmeade and the Common Room, far from being quiet, was again packed with people.
«So how was your day?» asked Adriand, handing me a very large box, full of chocolate.
«Oh Adrian you just made it better!» I replied hugging him. I openede the box and started to eat some chocolate randomly: they were all amazing in my opinion.
«Was your homework that bad?»
I nodded. «And then Eve came up with this surreal story about Oliver wanting to ask me out back in our forth year...»
«Surreal? It was perfectly true. You were - well I think you still are, even if he denies it- his biggest obsession after quidditch» he said grinning.
«I'm not! » I shouted at him.
«Do you always have to shout at someone?» Oliver said, intruding suddenly in our conversation. I noticed that he was holding hands with Patricia Simmons, sixth year. I looked very carefully at her. She was pretty, but maybe too thin. It looked as if she could be broken if the wind blowed a bit harder.
«Hang on, I'll go upstairs to leave my bag then will give you your quill...meet me in the hall, Pam?» he asked her. She nodded and kissed him briefly on the lips, before heading for her dorms. After all she was not that pretty, her nose was awkward and her eyes were too small. But honestly, who cared? Oliver was dating her, he had to like her, not me.
When Oliver came down with my quill the common room was almost empty. There were just a couple of first years that hurried out of the portrait hole a few moments after Oliver had joined me.
«Here's your quill»
«Thanks! How much I owe you?»
«Nothing. It was my choice to get you one»
«Oliver, why didn't you tell me?» I found myself suddenly asking. A moment later I wanted to slap myself so badly I could hardly prevent it happening.
«What are you talking about, I left you a note in your Herbology book!»
«Not the quill» I was laughing now «I meant, why didn't you tell me that that night you wanted to ask me out?»
«Oh» he seemed at loss of words for a while «Oh well...you were dating Bill weren't you? So I figured out I already knew which answer I would get and...and I decided that there was no point in asking. Hang on...you were not thinking of asking me out now, were you?»
I shook my head. «No, but it would've explained a lot of things and maybe I wouldn't have been that angry with you.»
«That's great! I was honestly scared of having to turn you down now that we are both on civil terms»
«Yeah, it would have been quite embarassing» I pretended to agree, but I've never disagreed more with someone my whole life. «You'd better go, Patricia is waiting for you!»
«You're not coming?»
«No. I have to finish this for tomorrow I won't have time for Potions.» I answered, taking the Herbology essay back from my bag.
«Right. Well, see you tomorrow then!» he said.
I waved at him and looked as he went out of the portrait hole. I didn't know why I was feeling so odd. I should be happy about having a clear vision of the whole business. In spite of Eve and Adrian believing that Oliver was still taken by me, he had proved them wrong and plus he seemed to really like Patricia. Of course he had picked up one girl of his fan club, but it was his own damn bussiness. Not mine. I had to repeat it a few times before I was thouroughly convinced by it and could go back to correcting my essay.
I was riding a broomstick that suddenly turned into a dragon and I began to scream. Of course I was panicking: I had learnt how to fly on brooms, not on dragons and I didn't know how to control it. Being unable to control something was the thing I hated most in my whole life. Suddenly I saw someone flying to rescue me. After a while I could recognise it was Oliver, on his broomstick, wearing his quidditch robes.
«All right Bill I'm gonna save you, but it better be something quick, Quidditch match is starting in a hour!» he explained, pulling my arm toward his broom.
I suddenly woke up to find Fred and Geore Weasley looking at me.
«What do you want?» she protested
«Taking you downstairs for a huge sleepover!» said Fred, grinning
«You're mental, I'm not falling for one of your tricks» I tried to get back to sleep, but it was impossible.
«Dumbledore sent us here to fetch you. Sirius Black tried to break in our Common Room, you didn't hear anything?»
«Sirius Black? Honestly guys, find a better excuse!»
«Don't you wonder why nobody else is in the room when the party is supposed to be over?»
I looked around. Nobody came back, that was for sure.
«O damn! Sirius Black is here! And I bet I'm supposed to get downstairs...for my duties!» I slammed the palm of my hand on my forhead, suddenly understanding.
«You can be brilliant sometimes, really!» exlaimed George, heading for the portrait hole.
«By the way we heard you talking in your sleep...» said Fred
«...yeah, looked like you wanted our captain to save you! You kept moaning his name!» continued George
«No, I wasn't!» I answered, feeling my face burning hot with redness.
«Yes you were and I'm sure Ollie will be delighted to hear it»
«Fred Weasley don't you dare tell him...»
«We won't» said Fred
«If you promise us to never give us detention again» added George.
I looked at them in disbelief: they were basically blackmailing me! I couldn't believe it.
«Didn't you take anything from your brothers?»
«Yes» said Fred proudly «We have Bill's good look...»
«...Charlie's talent in quidditch...»
«...and Percy's...oh, luckily we don't seem to have anything from Percy!» ended Fred, making me laugh.
«All right all righ, you pair of mischievous blackmailer now let me go before they decide to take my badge. And mind you don't say anything about this to Perce!» I exlaimed, getting past them, ready to go out.
«Why do you care so much about that stupid Head-Girl badge?» asked George
«Mostly for the bathroom, believe me»
They exchanged an identical grin that made me understand nothing good was coming.
«We won't say anything to Percy if you tell us the password!»
«Right, George. Is Grindylow and don't get yourself caught in there with some girls, all right?»
«What makes you think we'd like to bring some girls with us?» ased Fred, still smiling mischievously.
«Honesty, you're the Weasley twins, do you really need a better explanation than this one?»
They looked at each other, apparently very proud of themselves.
A/N: Soooo I finally got to my third chapter! Luckily I am on holiday and I can fight my end-of-Harry-Potter depression writing fanfics! I decided to write on on Wood because I always loved the character and I decided that it was time to try and develop a story around him.!
Please R&R to let me know what do you think of this! Is my first fanfiction in english, so your opinions would be really appreciated!