Chapter 7: Oliver's Attempts

Oliver was confused.

From his knowledge of women, from all the Muggle movies and plays, he had been confident that Novi would bring up the kiss sometime. It was expected. The girl was supposed to come questioning, asking if the kiss meant anything, the two characters would confess their undying love for each other, they would kiss, and get together. Happily ever after.

However, Novi never mentioned the kiss again to Oliver. Not the day after, and not a week after. In fact, she didn't even act any different from before.

To say that Oliver was discouraged was an understatement. However, it did bring a smile into his face, remembering the incident at the Farley mansion last winter.

December 29, 1990

The best thing about the Farley family was that, even though they had come from generations of pureblood Slytherins and Ravenclaws, they weren't pureblood supremacists. Sure, they did associate with the likes of Malfoys, Parkinsons, and other pureblood families, but they never believed in 'good blood' and 'bad blood'. In fact, when their youngest, Mona, was sorted Gryffindor, they were altogether delighted and fascinated. They also voiced their hope, that further down the road, they will have someone sorted into Hufflepuff.

Maybe it was because of this upbringing, that Gemma Farley, Mona's older sister, was the nicest Slytherin that Novi, Oliver, and Percy have met. That was the reason, when Gemma had asked them to her 17th birthday, they agreed, even when they knew that they would be surrounded by Gemma's Slytherin friends.

"Hello, Oliver, Percy," Gemma greeted the two Gryffindor boys.

With Mona and Novi still upstairs, getting ready for the long night, Percy and Oliver were the only Gryffindors at this party. So to avoid the sneering the Slytherins had been giving them, they were waiting by the bottom of the staircase, uncomfortable in their dress robes.

"Hello, Gemma. Thank you for inviting us to your lovely home," Percy nodded, giving her a rare smile. "Congratulations on becoming seventeen. You look the utmost beautiful."

"Such flattery, Percy," Gemma giggled, flipping her long blonde hair and straightening her silvery-white dress. "Well, I think I see them now."

Behind the boys, descending down the staircase was Mona and Novi. Both Oliver and Percy couldn't keep their mouth shut at the new development.

Mona, who was usually very loud and boisterous, not to mention, clumsy, looked like other Pureblood children, prim and proper. She had her long blonde hair in an elegant twist, and her makeup was more prominent, making her brown eyes pop. She had on a dark green Chinese collared dress that hugged her tall body perfectly.

Oliver, however, though he had acknowledged his blonde friend's presence, his eyes were fixated on Novi. He trailed down his eyes down the entirety of her body. Her mousy brown hair was in a messy bun, her makeup made her more beautiful with daring red lips, and with the elegant, bow-collared dress…

"Flies, Oliver," Mona whispered to Oliver harshly when she came to the bottom of the stairs. He quickly shut his mouth with a little clack as he still stared at Novi.

"Gemma, happy birthday," Novi chimed, giving the older girl a hug. "Thank you for the invitation, it's always a pleasure to be here."

"It's always a pleasure to have you here. You're practically family," Gemma replied. "Well, I trust that you're in good hands with these gentlemen, I'll see you around," she nodded before she walked away.

"Well, you boys really know how to clean up after yourselves," Mona said as she turned toward the two boys.

"Same to both of you," Percy said. "I mean, you can fit in right along with the Slytherins."

"I resent that statement," Novi said as she crinkled her nose.

"So, what do you think, boys? Doesn't she look fantastic?" Mona asked as she twirled Novi like a ragdoll, making her scowl. "Took a lot of damn convincing to make her wear the damned red lipstick. But I would say that last minute decision made the whole outfit, what do you think, Oliver?"

Oliver's eyes flickered to her lips for a second; they looked both lovely and intimidating. It sent shivers of excitement and thrill, similar to what he felt when he flew on his broom too fast and it starts to shake out of control. Oliver gulped, inwardly shivering at the thought, before smiling. "All I know is that Ms. Black looks absolutely gorgeous tonight."

Novi blushed a slight pink at this but smirked, her grey eyes twinkling. "Well aren't you Mr. Giacomo Casanova himself?" she stated more than asked. But their moment was cut short when Mona cleared her throat. "Well, anyway. Nobody drink the firewhiskey offered to them, alright?" she smiled brightly.

"Novela, what did you do?" Percy groaned, knowing something was up. "These people are all going to grow up to be the most influential people in the Wizarding world, you don't want to play your little games on them."

"Actually, I really, really do," Novi answered.

"Just let her be, Percy. Come on, let's go have something to eat," Mona said as she not-so-discretely lead Percy away from them, giving them a sly grin.

"Well, Oliver. Watch as my genius-ness play out," Novi said as she discretely pulled him towards the corner of the front lobby, near to the door to the library.

Then, a slight shriek was heard from the centre of the room. Everyone's eyes fell upon the noise immediately, some with their wand raised.

In the middle of the room was Olivia Shardlow, one of the snobby Slytherin in seventh year. She was staring wide-eyed at an old man with a horrid face. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize, that this was, in fact, her boyfriend, Byron Miller. Some people burst out into a fit of laughter while others tried to help the panicking boy.

"Aging Potion?" Oliver asked with his eyebrow raised.

"And Fungiface Potion," Novi stated happily as more screams and laughter was ensued. "Come on," she said as she led him into the library.

After they closed the doors the two of them immediately burst out into laughter, falling on the Victorian couches that adorned the centre of the library.

"That was very evil of you," Oliver said between his gasps of laughter. "Now Gemma has to deal with them being angry."

"Nah, Mona and I told her beforehand to expect some ruckus, and we tipped her off to not drink the firewhiskey," the girl replied. That's when she dug through her little black clutch and pulled out a bottle of the said alcohol from her charmed bag. "Do you want some?"

"Is it going to make mushrooms grow on my face?" Oliver asked, taking the bottle anyway.

"Do you not trust me?" Novi laughed.

"If I learned anything from the last three and a half years, is to not trust anything you give me," Oliver said with his eyebrow raised, but nevertheless, he took several large gulps of the firewhiskey, feeling the burn travel down his throat.

"It's not mixed with potion, I swear," Novi said as she took the bottle and drank from it. She then stood up from where she sat on the lavish chair, walking around the big library and looking at the books.

Perhaps it was because of the alcohol taking effect on him fast at this point. But as Oliver watched Novi, taking a big swig of the firewhiskey - quite unladylike, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she was. Yes, at the moment she may have been dressed like the proper pureblood witch, but inside, she was just a carefree and juvenile teenager. He found these qualities in Novi very attractive. Some may have called it the first-love fantasies, but he knew, and he's always known, that she's the one.

"Novi, look-," Oliver started, getting up from his seat, determined to tell her his feelings, when the door flew open.

"Oh, oops. Are we interrupting something?" a nasally voice that belonged to none other than Helia Crabbe said, giggling rather much like a horse. She was entangled with a very drunk looking Marcus Flint, stopped mid-snog.

"Didn't know you had it in ya, Wood. I always thought you had a pussy," Flint sneered with a cocky grin. He looked Novi up and down with hungry eyes. "Well don't let us rain on your parade, continue," he said as he left the room.

"Why that-," Oliver started, walking towards the door.

"Oliver, don't. He's not worth it… not on Gemma's birthday," Novi said as she caught up to him quickly. He looked as she looped her arm around his and looked with completely oblivious eyes. "Come on, we should go eat something before absolutely everything is gone."

"Hello, Earth to Oliver," someone was waving their hand in front of Oliver.

Oliver snapped out of it, he was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, the Weasley twins waving their hand in front of him. Oliver stopped biting his thumb, looking around to see that it was dark out.

"Hey Fred, hello George," he said as he stretched his arms into the air yawning.

"So who is it, mate?" one of the twins, Oliver didn't know which, asked.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"The girl you were fantasizing about, who is it?" the other twin asked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. What time is it, anyway?" Oliver said as he got up from his seat at the study desk.

"Come on, mate. You've been sitting there-,"

"-by yourself-,"

"-smirking and biting your thumb-,"

"-not to mention, drooling."

"We know you love Quidditch-,"

"-but we're pretty sure that-,"

"-you're not having some wet dream about a Quidditch move-,"

"-that you're studying out of the Quidditch throughout the Ages."

"Or we really hope you're not." They finished together.

"You know it's really annoying when you guys finish each other's sentences like that?" Oliver sneered.

"You're avoiding the question, man. So who's the lucky lady?" one asked. "Is it Novi by any chance?"

Oliver choked on his own spit at this. Coughing as he tried to force the saliva from going down the wrong tube, he glared at the two Weasleys between his wheezing and coughing.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot right away, George," Fred said, smirking deviously from George to Oliver.

"Dude, what are you waiting for? Don't wait for the grass to grow, ask her out. What's keeping you?" George asked.

"You don't understand. I don't think Novi likes me that way. Besides, now that I'm getting older, I have to focus more on Quidditch if I want to go professional, I can't be-,"

"Don't give us that excuse. Come on, mate. Ask her out to Hogsmeade. This Halloween," George said as the two twins started to follow Oliver who was walking rather fast toward his room in the boys' dormitory.

"I know you guys only have two classes in the morning that day," Fred said as he jabbed his finger between Oliver's ribs.

"Gentlemen, I thank you for the offer. I'll let you know if I need any assistance, alright? Lay off, and don't you think for a second you made me forget about Quidditch practice at 6am tomorrow!" Oliver called before he disappeared through the door, making the twins groan.

"Hey, Novi, what do you say we sneak out to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Oliver asked during dinner the night before Halloween.

Percy grumbled disapprovingly. He muttered to himself about how Novi was a prefect, and shouldn't be doing anything against the school rules, setting a better example for the younger students, but he knew better then to try and stop them if they made up their mind. Besides, he would never admit to his brothers, but he had snuck out with them on some occasions. Mona, usually always initiating the little escapade didn't think much of it before it dawned on her. Oliver had just asked Novi out! It was very subtle, but she was sure of it.

"I don't know, Oliver," Novi said, biting into her chocolate gateau. "The Hogsmeade trip isn't too far away, maybe we should wait? Plus, I want to keep an eye on Harry as much as possible."

"Come on, Novi, it's just for half a day," Mona pushed.

"No, sorry. Besides, I have a career interview with McGonagall," Novi said right away, setting the decision final. "Sorry Oliver, but on the first Hogsmeade trip we can sneak back early and ride our brooms over the Black Lake?" Novi asked with puppy eyes, trying to make the pouting Oliver feel better.

Oliver gave her a pointed look, but it didn't last long as the corner of his lips tugged upwards in order to supress his smile. "Alright," he said, "as you wish."

"You guys are so cute it makes me diarrhea rainbows," Mona grumbled. "Anyway, let's head back."

(A/N) Hello everyone, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been faithfully following my story. But I just wanted to remind everyone that you don't need an account to leave a nice little REVIEW at the end, so show me some more lovin'! Don't forget to favorite and follow this story or me if you love my writing. Thanks,

xx Bingum