Chapter 20

The end of term feast, which was normally a joyous occasion, was the saddest event that Amelia ever attended at Hogwarts. Instead of the normally colorful banners depicting which House won the House Cup that year, the banners were all black. Even Professor Dumbledore's speech was drenched in sadness.

After the ceremony, Amelia spent some time with her friends, who had agreed to keep their boyfriends at bay for a while. They sat under an oak tree by the lake where Amelia told them everything about Oliver. When she finished her story, she was crying, and Charity made a suggestion. "We're done with school now, Ames. Why don't you write or visit him?"

"I'm the one that cheated," Amelia argued. "He doesn't want to see me."

"How do you know unless you try," Kate reasoned. "At least write him. If he doesn't respond, you'll have your answer." Amelia nodded and went to get parchment and an owl to write to Oliver. Her letter detailed how sorry she was that she had hurt him, how much she missed him, and asked him to write back. She sent it off, but didn't expect a reply. She went home that day and her parents held a celebration dinner at their house. She had accepted a position at St. Mungo's, and so she and her mother made plans to travel to London to find a flat.

Oliver had been missing Amelia terribly since April. He had taken his father to the Quidditch match, just as she had suggested and afterwards, broke down over a pint and told his father everything. His father had suggested that he write to her, but he didn't.

He read the papers the day after the Tri-Wizard Tournament and was never happier that Amelia had not been chosen as a Champion when he read that Cedric Diggory had been killed during the final task. He, again, considered writing to Amelia, and, again, chickened out at the last minute…which made him quite surprised when an unfamiliar owl pecked on his window and dropped off a letter from Amelia.

Oliver read that letter at least a dozen times, puzzling over what to do with hit. He looked at his calendar and noticed that Amelia would have come home from school 2 days earlier. After his practice that day, he apparated to Leeds and knocked on her door. "Is Amelia home?" he asked her father.

"She's in London with her mother," Joseph answered. "They're staying in Knightsbridge." Oliver nodded and went to leave.

Just as Oliver was preparing to apparate, her father called his name. "Don't mess her about, son," Joseph ordered. "I've never seen her like she was in April." Oliver didn't say anything. He simply nodded and apparated to London. He wandered around the city for several hours, but couldn't find Amelia.

She had gone apartment shopping with her mother and, once they found her a small flat near St. Mungo's, they went looking for furniture. "Mum, thank you," Amelia said. "For everything. I know I've been a pain in your arse and that I've hurt you and Dad and I'm really sorry."

"Sweetheart, you're our daughter and nothing you could do will ever stop us from loving you," Camilla promised. "Now, have you heard from Oliver?"

"No," she replied. "I sent him a letter just before leaving school, but I haven't heard anything back. I guess I really blew it."

"I'm sorry dear," Camilla said. Neither of them spotted Oliver across the street, and he did not see them.

When Amelia and her mother returned home the next day, her Dad asked if they had seen Oliver. "Why would we, Dad?" Amelia asked.

"Dear, he stopped here looking for you yesterday," Joseph explained. "I told him that you and your mother had gone to London to find a flat for you." Amelia nodded and went to her room, hoping to find an owl with a letter from Oliver. She was disappointed to find nothing there.

A week later, Amelia's parents traveled with her to London and set her up in her new flat. She would be close enough to walk to St. Mungo's, where she would be training for work as a healer.

Her first day of training was a disaster. She worried that a few times she did more harm than good and the healer she was assigned to work with, Healer Vance Jameson, was incredibly harsh. He frequently yelled at her and she was near tears by the lunch break.

During her lunch break, she sat alone in the cafeteria, rethinking her choice to accept the position at St. Mungo's. She was just about to leave when someone sat at her table with her. "I'm Dylan Ford," he said. "And you are?"

"Amelia Clark," she answered. "And I'm just about to leave."

"Pity," he said. "Who's your trainer?"

"Jameson," she replied. He grimaced and she smiled for the first time that day.

"Sorry about that," Dylan said. "You shouldn't put too much stock in anything he says. He's that big of an ass to all of the new trainees for the first week. Stick it out, and you'll be fine."

"Thanks," she said. "I'm really glad I met you." She wandered away considering the mysterious man who had sat with her at lunch. She'd be lying if she said he wasn't cute, but she was also sure that she shouldn't date him.

A few weeks went by and Amelia still had not heard from Oliver. As the summer trudged along with a terrible heat wave, she found herself spending more time with Dylan. He had become one of her best friends in the healer training program, although she had become friends with some of her other classmates. On the last Friday in July, Dylan approached Amelia as she was getting ready to leave. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to join some of us at pub tonight," he said.

"Who are some of us?" Amelia asked.

"Me, Jack, Emma, and Kate," he replied. "We're going for a drink. You should come with us."

"Yeah, alright," she answered. "I'm just about done here." She grabbed her bag and followed Dylan out into the London heat. They walked to a nearby pub and joined the others at a table. Amelia had a great time and considered agreeing to dinner with Dylan for dinner the next night.

"I really don't think I can," she said, finally. "I'm sorry, but I don't think so."

"Fair enough, love," Dylan said, sadly. "I'll just have to find another way to get you to snog me." She raised an eyebrow and laughed at him, but sort of wanted to snog him. She bade them all good night and went home soon after that.

The following Monday, Amelia was busy with patients when she was, again, approached by Dylan. He, again, asked her out and she finally agreed. "Fine, but after this date you have to promise to stop bothering me," she ordered. He nodded and smirked as he walked away.

He took her out to a small Italian bistro the next night and she really enjoyed his company. After dinner, he walked her home and kissed her on the stoop. "I'll see you tomorrow," she promised.

"Will I get another date?" he asked, flirting more than a little.

"We'll see," she teased. She got to her flat and found an unfamiliar owl waiting. She tore open the letter and was surprised to find that Oliver had written her. She had just gotten over him and written him off, and then he wrote to her.

Oliver had been trying to find Amelia for weeks before he did. He had seen her at a pub with some of her co-workers and hid in the crowd. He was not surprised to see that one of the men she was with was openly flirting with her; he was, however, surprised to see that she was flirting back. He noticed, gladly, that she left alone and set about finding out where she lived so that he could write to her. It only took a few days before he had an address and he sent off his new owl to her as soon as he could.

Amelia read Oliver's letter 3 times. He wrote pages on why it had taken him so long to write to her and how much he wanted her back, but she had to ask herself whether it was too little, too late. She sent him a note back that she would consider what he had written and get back to him later; she only wrote because he had apparently told his owl not to leave until she had written a reply.

Four days later, Amelia still hadn't decided what to do with Oliver and she was avoiding Dylan at work, almost glad to be assigned later shifts with Healer Jameson just to accomplish that. It was during her last shift of the week that she came face to face with Oliver again.

He had been given a start in the Puddlemere game against Wimbourne because the starting Keeper had been injured. He took a nasty bludger hit just as the game was ending in a Wimbourne victory and had to be taken to St. Mungo's. Amelia was taking a dinner break when she was paged to the emergency department.

"I just got the page," she said when she entered the examination room. She noticed who the patient was and exclaimed, "Bloody hell!"

"Healer Clark, watch your language," Healer Jameson scolded.

"Sorry, sir," she mumbled.

"Now, Mr. Wood has a severe concussion and a badly bruised collar bone. I'm going to need you to keep him awake for the next hour," Healer Jameson instructed. "I'll be back when the board clears. Until then, Clark, keep him awake."

"Yes, sir," she replied. Turning to Oliver, she said, "Hello, Oliver."

"'Lo, Ames," he said. "How've you been?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "You?" He had started to doze and didn't answer, so Amelia poked him in the side.

"What's that for?" he whined.

"You're supposed to stay awake," she scolded him. "How have you been?"

"Miserable," he stated, truthfully. "Quidditch is good, though."

"I can see that," she laughed. "You're getting starts?"

"Only this once, because Kendall is out for a game. He'll be back next match against Appleby," Oliver explained. "Now, tell me about healer training."

"You're supposed to stay awake and I'm afraid doing that would just bore you back to sleep, or to tears and I don't deal with criers very well," she said.

"No?"

"Last week we had a mother and child in. The little one had eaten some plants that he shouldn't have and his Mum was crying and carrying on," she explained.

"What did you do?" Oliver asked, nervously.

"I shouted at her, which is how I got stuck with 3 weeks' worth of night shifts," Amelia finished. Oliver chuckled, but it hurt his head to laugh.

"Don't make me laugh too much," he ordered. "It hurts."

"Sorry," she said. "Can I get you anything? Do you want me to call your parents?"

"I'm fine," he promised. "And please, don't call my parents. They'll only want me to quit playing."

Amelia went to pull up a chair to sit, but Oliver asked, "Climb in with me?"

"Ol, we shouldn't," she protested. "I could get in trouble." Of course, she was saying this as she was helping Oliver shuffle around so that she wouldn't be resting her head on his sore shoulder. Then, she climbed in next to him.

"I've missed this," he said; he entwined his fingers with hers and stroked her back.

"Me too," she whispered. After a few minutes, she asked, "You're not asleep are you?"

"No," he replied. "I've been good and am staying awake."

"Good. Tell me about Puddlemere," she ordered. And he did. They talked, and laughed together for nearly half an hour, but were rudely interrupted when Dylan barged into Oliver's room.

"What the hell is going on here?" Dylan spat.

"Easy mate," Oliver said. "She was just having a break and keeping me awake for Healer Jameson."

"I know," Dylan snarled. "And if she doesn't get up she's going to be in serious trouble. Is this why you've been avoiding me? Got a little action on the side?"

"Dylan, not now," Amelia said, climbing down from Oliver's bed. Oliver gave a quizzical look, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, mate, I took her out, and no, Amelia, now is the perfect time. So, what is it?" Dylan demanded.

"This is Oliver Wood," Amelia said. "Ol, this is Dylan Ford. Dylan is a colleague."

"I'm just a colleague? You snogged me the other night when I took you out," he nearly shouted. Amelia started to look very uncomfortable and asked Dylan into the hall.

"Who is he?" he growled.

"He was my boyfriend for nearly 2 years, Dylan. I told you I don't know how many times that I wasn't looking for a boyfriend," she explained. "I haven't seen or heard from him in months, but he's here now and we're talking."

"So that's it? What does he have that I don't?"

"The same thing he's always had," she answered, sternly. "He has my heart." Oliver had climbed out of his bed and was eaves-dropping by the door, so he heard the entire exchange.

"Jameson sent me to release him if his vitals are good, but he can't go home alone," Dylan said. "Go check him over and get him out of here. Jameson is going to want to see you before your next shift."

Amelia returned to Oliver's room and started checking over his vitals. "Who was that guy?" he asked.

"A colleague who took me out the other night," she answered. "Oliver, you are free to leave, but you shouldn't be alone tonight and you can't apparate. Is there anyone I can call for you?"

"Ames, I'm not calling in my teammates or my parents. If I have to, I'll just stay here," he said, sighing heavily.

Amelia considered Oliver for a moment. He looked annoyed that he'd have to stay at the hospital, but he was adamant that she not call anyone for him. Then, an idea struck her. "Stay with me," she offered.

"What?"

"Look, it's not like we don't know each other, and I live a few blocks from here," she said.

"Don't you have to work?" he asked.

"I was done 20 minutes after you got here and I don't have to work for the next few days" she said. "I'm going to change and I'll be back in 5 minutes. Just think about it."

She got to the door before she heard him say, "Okay." Smirking, she went to the locker room, quickly changed, and returned to Oliver's room.

"Ready?" she asked. He answered and she led him out of the hospital.