Chapter 16

I looked out with a childlike glee onto the falling snow outside our dorm room. "The best day of the year." I whispered to myself.

Discounting Halloween, probably. Or actually, Halloween and Decoration Day might be equally thrilling if I were to compare the two.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Decoration Day, or Deco Day, if you will, was a day that brought utter delight to my life. It was the day when all of Hogwarts was transformed from being a grey castle made of stone –not that I normally had a problem with that look– into a wintery holiday-fest! It was the day when the staff (mostly Hagrid,) decorated the castle.

This day was better than Christmas. Not only was it a lovely day in itself, it also contained all the anticipation of the lead up to the actual Christmas Day. It was a perfect start to a wonderful month.

Such a shame I had to be the one to wake everyone up though. I had risen early and was in a state of tremendous excitement. I knew that we had agreed I would wake them. I also knew that on a lot of days, I was the one who would wake them. It was a pretty standard procedure is what I mean to say. Never does it get easier though. It makes me feel like a bad person, like the bearer of bad news. No one is ever happy to have to stand up after having been unconscious for approximately eight hours, without food or drink. But I guess if there were to be a day when one would be happy to get out of bed in that particular state then today would be that day.

I began knocking on the columns of their four posters. "Students of Hogwarts, I implore you all to get up as quickly and as smoothly as you can." I knew it didn't really matter what I said, in the shape they were in nothing could be comprehended until after about five minutes following waking. I had come to learn this after, on several occasions, having woken them excitedly to tell them about plays I had thought of in my sleep. Only to have them forget what I was talking about within the next minute.

"You all know what day it is, and we have a packed schedule for the day, one which we need to get on top of right away."

We had learned after years of practise where everything would be being put up and at around what time. We had come to learn that if we were on the ground floor by the Grand Staircase around noon, we would have time to be in the library around the time when Madam Pince decorated the library, as she would never get going until around midday. Which left us time to catch Hagrid making the Viaduct Courtyard pretty in the afternoon and then get back for dinner where we would be able to view what Mr. Filch has turned the Great Hall into, all in one piece.

My friends began drawing the drapes of their four-posters, one by one. The day had officially begun.

10 a.m.

I found that being the most excited about something could be poignant. Wright, PJ, Bianca and I were sat on the Grand Staircase watching Hagrid try desperately not to fall off the feeble ladder he was standing on. He was decorating the giant, soon to be, Christmas tree. At the moment it wasn't looking so much like a Christmas tree. However, I knew from experience that no matter how hopeless Hagrid's attempts at the decorations would look, they would always somehow turn out looking absolutely magical in the end. I wasn't as on edge to help him with his pursuits, personally being able to use magic and all, as I had been in my earlier days. I would blame desensitization but I reckon I'd just realised that Hagrid loved doing this. I believed it made him feel needed, and he was needed. He also loved helping Dumbledore make the school as welcoming as he could.

Yet it was poignant. I could tell my friends wanted to be there, but mostly for my sake. Clues were for example questions like, "How long do you guys think this will take?" or just the fact that they were currently talking about something seemingly irrelevant we had just seen in the Tapestry Corridor.

"I reckon they probably got together during our win party." PJ added to the conversation.

I was always the nostalgic one of us. And I do admit that I was agonizingly aware of the fact that this would be the last year we could do this together. This stupid day of which we seemed to be among the only few at this school to care about.

It's not that it was any less magical than when I was little. It's more that nowadays these celebratory days seemed to come and go much quicker. They passed by in the blink of an eye and I felt stressed that I wouldn't have time to soak it all in before they were gone again. This year they would be gone forever and the thought hurt, to say the least.

"I feel like everyone got together with someone at that party. I heard Oliver got with someone." Wright said then, which caused my attention to veer dramatically. I had only been half listening when I heard the mention of Oliver, but my mind retroactively pieced the pieces together and then a ball of nervousness formed in my stomach. The sensation burned.

"Who told you that?" I asked.

I had been somewhat excluded from the conversation until then, which caused them all to turn toward me in an intimidating manner.

"Damn, who was it? PJ, you were there." Wright said, signalling for PJ to help her recall.

"Must have been Katie Bell, who else could it have been?" PJ replied.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"I'm 99% certain that it was Katie." PJ confirmed, looking assured.

"How strange." I said quietly. I kept studying Hagrid as he climbed down the ladder once again, only to move it a couple of feet and climb up it again to start on a different part of the tree.

How strange it felt to think that I had been the one kissing Oliver not two weeks ago. I had tried to remain unconcerned then, to not make it into a big deal and focus solely on the approaching game. After the game the kiss had felt sort of… antiquated. Like something of the past, that wasn't relevant anymore. Frankly I had thought the match would be the end of our acquaintance, not the beginning of our friendship.

"It's not that strange." Bianca explained, "He's finally noticed his appeal and is taking advantage of it."

"What do you mean?" Asked PJ.

"What I mean, is have you ever seen him with a bird?" We all laughed and mocked Bianca's use of the word bird, but she ignored us. "…And suddenly he's got a girlfriend of some sort?" She questioned. "He's finally realised that he's attractive." She concluded like she was teaching a class.

"Although we don't know if she's his girlfriend." I felt compelled to add.

"That's true. Does anyone know who she is?" She curiously looked around at us, mainly at PJ, hoping to get answers.

"Nah, didn't think to ask her." PJ said.

1 p.m.

At this point we were sat in the library, now with a couple of extra people to accompany us in the form of some members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I was still a little out of breath from the run up there.

Yes, the four of us had run three floors after having had lunch in the Great Hall in a competition of who could get here the fastest. It was not good. But a competition is a competition, it's fun, and fun we had. Especially fun was it when Wright hadn't managed to jump the next step before the stairs changed, sending her off to Professor Lupin's office, which was an entirely different direction. The look of utter apprehension on her face had been quite enough to send us coiling down into a laughing fit.

Our Gryffindor friends had been sitting quietly studying when, to their astonishment, we had all suddenly appeared at the door, all out of breath, all at the same time. Except for Wright of course who had appeared red faced a few minutes later. This had them coiling down the same laughing fit as we previously had.

Instead of studying, even though I had the necessities for it with me, I was mostly watching Madam Pinch as she hung Christmas wreaths on the walls. She made more of a show of putting the decorations up than Hagrid did, using magic and all. It was over much quicker though.

My friends, not studying either, were badgering Oliver's teammates about his supposed girlfriend and who she was. I, on the other hand, tried my best not to listen to it. I had gotten a nervous feeling in my stomach ever since they had first mentioned the matter, and I just couldn't shake it. Feeling anything about the matter was surprising to me, but nervousness? That was a riddle I couldn't solve.

But my best turned out not to be good enough, for the name still managed to seep its way into my ears.

Andrea Weise.

I didn't know Andrea all that well. I knew that she was in our year. She was a Gryffindor. She sang in the Frog Choir, which was pretty cool. Even though the choir was a bit of a laughing stock at the school, it was ill placed in my opinion. I found them, and especially her, amazing every time they preformed. The choir sung in Latin and I could tell that this had given her an advantage at all incantation-based academics. She was a great spell caster and particularly adept at wandless magic, managing some easy spells I couldn't dream of performing at this stage in my education.

Their relationship was a hot subject between Gryffindors apparently. Apparently, they had both been spotted together on multiple occasions.

"So weird to think both you and Oliver have got people now." Someone was saying. I always found it odd when people would use the term "have" in that particular context. It implies that someone is owned. Oliver doesn't have anyone, and it's a weird thing to imply.

I then realised that it was Alicia who was speaking, and she was speaking to me. With a glance at my friends, who were looking at me like I was a Mandrake about to scream, I calmly set her straight.

"You're referring to Graham, I presume? We're not together." I said, receiving multiple confused looks from the company. "I don't have anyone."

3 p.m.

The only time students would ever hang out on the Viaduct Courtyard in winter was when the Christmas decorations were being put up. Except for when the Weasley's would organize snowball fights, at those times it seemed like students where nowhere else but here.

It was just the four of us again. We had sat down on a bench, cold and tired. It was distinctly darker and the sun would soon be fully set behind the mountains. The lights on the courtyard had magically lit up as soon as the dark had oozed in. We were mostly sitting quietly, watching Hagrid drag yet another Christmas tree to its rightful place. The lights served to make the experience tender. There seemed to be a mutual agreement that this moment, the last ever Decoration Day… was rather holy. The lack of speaking was due to it being held with highest regard by us, and speaking would make the moment less divine, we believed.

— That and tiredness, probably.

PJ let out a gasp. "Look! There they are!" She was nodding her head discreetly at Oliver, who had just arrived at the courtyard. We all took in the scene like it was Merlin himself we had spotted.

He was concatenated with Andrea as they treaded through the sheet of snow to sit down on another bench, away from us. It was an astonishing sight to behold. His scarf was neatly tucked around his neck. Oddly enough, his whole attire looked neat. The fact that his clothes looked nice for once, did not give me the satisfaction I thought it would. Maybe I actually did like it the other way. His hair was still ruffled however. Probably from snogging Andrea, I thought. Before I could stop it, that nervous feeling erupted in my stomach again. Was it really nervousness?

No matter what the feeling was, seeing him hold her hand and lean toward her in that way, made it erupt.

Andrea smiled, she looked happy. Oliver squinted in our direction through the snow. I didn't know what to do initially, but I remembered that we were now friends and it would be customary for me to smile at him, so I did. Thankfully he smiled back. His face was pale and his cheeks rosy from the falling snow.

"Since when do Will and Oliver smile at each other?" Asked Wright, tearing my goofy smile and myself away from the interaction I was having.

"We're friends now." I declared happily.

All at once, they emoted an excessive degree of amazement. "Are we really at the age where both Will and Oliver can coexist in the same room without causing utter disarray?" PJ joked.

"I think we are." I agreed. "But you guys know this already, don't you?"

"We know you've talked a couple of times. And that he somehow managed to break into our common room, something which I'm still not quite sure of how he did." PJ said.

"Honestly PJ, it's not that hard." I said, to my own disbelief finding myself agreeing with Oliver.

Wright leaned toward me, suddenly curious. "What were you guys doing by the way?"

"We were just hanging out. Like I said, we're friends."

"No." Bianca asserted. "I don't believe it." She eyed me challengingly, "You're going to have to prove it."

I sighed. I gazed over at Oliver and Andrea, fearing whatever would come next. "How do you purpose I do that?" I asked sluggishly, knowing she already had an idea in mind.

"I just want you to talk to them." She explained simply.

That didn't sound too bad. Frankly I had expected worse. I just had to have one conversation with Oliver that didn't turn to shreds and my friends would get off my back about shared smiles with Oliver. Lately I had gotten quite good at this particular feat. I was confident.

I rose and began approaching the couple with Bianca and the rest right behind as my backup.

"Hello Willow!" Andrea called as she saw me approaching them.

I smiled. "Hi Andrea. Hi Oliver."

Oliver greeted my friends as well but they refused. "Oh, we're just here to watch." Bianca said. Had I not been slightly on the uncomfortable side, I would have laughed at their silly behaviour.

Oliver looked at me for answers, considerably more confused by now. But I had none to give.

"So you're the girl who managed to beat our team." Andrea joked, managing to soothe the current atmosphere remarkably.

"Your seeker fell from the sky." I said modestly.

"Nevertheless you did a pretty good job." Oliver said, causing me a sudden speechlessness.

"It's true, and I can assure you it's not the first time he's said so." Andrea smiled, managing to make me like her even more. I looked at my friends, who looked back at me in disbelief. I looked at Oliver, who was currently looking away from me.

"How's your Sopophorous plant doing by the way?" She asked curiously, once again putting me at ease.

"Oh Merlin, that died long ago." I laughed. "I had completely forgotten about that! How's yours going? Has it got any beans yet?"

"It does actually! I just started collecting them a couple of weeks ago." Her eyes were wide in enthusiasm.

"That's amazing! I can imagine the autumn we've had really makes it bloom." I pondered. "But that's amazing! If I ever need you for potion making, I'll let you know." I joked.

"Do it." She agreed.

"I just can't believe you've managed to keep it alive this long. You should be tutoring me, instead of me tutoring Roger Davies." I said, making a face.

"You're tutoring Roger Davies?" Andrea laughed in disbelief.

"Hard to believe, I know."

I realised then that our conversation had taken of without anyone else included, and the company had begun exchanging glances. "Anyway." I motioned between the couple at hand. "When did this happen?" I asked Oliver, trying to sound as happy as I could.

"At the Hufflepuff party, I guess." Oliver said ambiguously, which I pinned down to him being uncomfortable talking about it. "Now we both have people." He smiled light-heartedly.

I laughed, painfully aware of my friends watching me. "Who do I have?" I asked, already aware of whom he was talking about.

He leaned his head to the side in confusion. "You and Graham kissed, didn't you?"

I tried to ignore how uncomfortable I felt. Why had I agreed to do this? I laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood. "No that was just a bet."

Oliver let out a laugh that failed to hide his confusion; a simple "What?" was all he managed.

"Yeah." I said awkwardly. "You look genuinely confused by this."

"Yeah, I mean people don't usually kiss people they're not involved with." He reasoned.

We kissed. I thought. Something, which Oliver seemed to also have realised as soon as he spoke for he opened his mouth to say something, but apparently thought better of it and dodged my gaze instead.

For the sake of bringing sound to the quiet I stalely laughed once again before continuing, "It's just funny you guys think I'm involved with Graham I mean honestly."

Oliver scoffed, not really laughing.

"It's not that far fetched." Andrea argued. "You two are really cute when you're sitting together in corridors and such." She spoke kindly.

Bianca seemed to agree with this as she nodded approvingly.

"I thought you were only watching." I fired at Bianca.

The look I received from PJ and Wright made me feel like that Mandrake once again. I realised it was probably a good idea to retrieve back into the shadows. Call it a day. Turn in, etc.

We said our goodbyes that were as uncomfortable as the whole interaction in itself. We went up to Hagrid to congratulate him on his good work, it wouldn't have felt right not to, and made our way to the last stop on this day's journey.

Like many days, it seemed like this one was drawing to an end, the last Decoration Day ever. It was bittersweet. On one end I was looking forward to going to bed. Oddly enough, sometimes going to bed could feel like the best part of the day when at Hogwarts. Locking oneself away by pulling the curtains of one's four-poster and crawling under the sheets could be a welcoming hand after an intense day, with the memories to go through one last time before drifting off. On the other end I knew that I would never get to experience it again, but I tried to let that thought go and enjoy the last of it with my friends instead.

As we were walking through the Tapestry Corridor 'where it had all begun' Wright decided it was time to make jokes.

"Turns out you do have a friend we weren't aware about, but it's not Oliver." The others laughed and I let out a frustrated noise.

"I mean I know we like to joke that you are friends with everyone, but the more time passes, I come to realise that it's true — you truly are friends with everyone." Wright continued humorously.

"Guys." I began, trying to get their giggly selves to listen to me. "Oliver and I are friends. It just got a little weird back there. It was a weird conversation to have." I looked at them for approval, which I didn't receive. "And don't you remember that I used to go to that extracurricular in Herbology? It was in fifth year. I had kind of forgotten about it too. Anyway, Andrea and I would talk a bit during those lessons."

"How come I have no memory of this?" Bianca asked, considerably less giggly now.

"I don't know. But I didn't really go there for very long, it wasn't all that fun and also I was terrible at it."

Before we set our foot in the Great Hall I asked one final time. "Okay, so now do you believe that Oliver and I are friends?"

Wright looked at me before turning to the rest of the group. "Do you believe that Willow and Oliver are friends?" She even seemed amused by the question.

"No." They chimed in unison.

21 October 2018

A/N: Did you like/dislike anything about this chapter? Please let me know!