Chapter 17

But Willow and Oliver did become friends, despite her friends' scepticism. Willow even grew closer to Andrea, to no one's disbelief. She and Oliver began to have banter, which people around them found annoying. They began to grin a lot at each other and they began to keep gazes longer than they probably should. Although her friends still remained unconvinced, and a week later Willow found she was still trying to prove it to them, a notion that ended her up at the Gryffindor dining table, in the Great Hall.

My friends still didn't quite believe that Oliver and I were friends, which resulted in me briefly sitting at the Gryffindor table in an act to try and prove this to them.

When I got there he was sitting across from Alicia. They were both evidently in the middle of an argument and Andrea was nowhere to be found.

"Thank Merlin you're here, Willow!" Alicia exasperated, sinking her upper body onto the table. Oliver turned around in haste at the mention of my name. "Please save me from this sadistic man!" She pleaded.

"Stop calling me that!" Oliver hissed. "As your captain I'm allowed to tell you if there's something you need to better yourself at."

I sat down reluctantly next to Oliver. Walking into a fight was not something I had exactly hoped for as I had made my way over from the Hufflepuff table. I couldn't say I was surprised though. It was unavoidable if one was a friend with anyone on the Gryffindor team. No other team on this school had such a hostile relationship with each other as that one, but also no other team had Oliver as their captain.

Alicia looked like she was about to hex him. "Can you believe this, Willow?" She asked me. Doing exactly the thing I feared she would. Being dragged into a fight regrettably trumps having to listen to one.

I always adored the relationship between Oliver and his teammates. Don't get me wrong, a lot could be said about his rhetoric when it came to team spirit, and not much of it would be words of admiration. But at the end of the day, they were all like siblings, something, which my team lacked, even though we did have a lot of fun on the pitch, I knew that I would never come to have that big brother relation to any of my teammates. Overlooking Wright and PJ of course, they were my family.

"Actually, I can." I said, grinning at Oliver. He merely rolled his eyes, nevertheless, not failing a tiny smile in the process.

Before Alicia could drag me in further I swiftly changed the subject to the one that I came for. "You guys are probably wondering why I came over here." I looked between the pair of them, realising they hadn't spared a single thought as to why I had joined them.

"Why did you come over here?" Oliver tried.

"Great question Oliver." I mocked. "I came over here only to invite you… and others," I was mostly looking at Alicia, communicating to her that she was supposed to bring Angelina as well. "To our common room this afternoon. We're going to have an evening of games. An evening of fun."

"That sounds great!" Alicia said in a distinctly cheerier tone than the one she had previously worn.

Oliver was thinking. "Actually, I was going to work on some diagrams. Can't you guys come to our common room instead?" He asked.

I spent a moment in silence, taking him in. I was unsure of what to say. I finally settled on, "No."

Oliver furrowed his brows. "Why not?"

I looked at Alicia to make sure she was hearing what I was hearing. She seemed equally done with Oliver at this point. Once again Oliver seemed completely oblivious to signals other people were sending out, behaviour that I hadn't experienced in a while and I have to say, it took me by surprise. But I found that, in contrast to the other times I had experienced the same thing, my calm was kept.

"Interesting you should ask." I began confidently. "I can think of multiple reasons. First of all your next game isn't until next year. I think your little Quidditch diagrams can wait." I smiled. "Second of all, you would have to walk down hundreds of flights of stair, whereas we would have to walk up them." I declared, to my own surprise, still smiling widely.

A smile played at Oliver's lips, he seemed to enjoy me arguing like I was the head of the Wizengamot, "I don't see how that could be a problem, you're in good shape."

There was a moment of silence where Oliver held my stare admirably, determined not to let go. We both couldn't stop grinning although it wasn't a conversation that would normally involve grinning. It was an argument, although I didn't find myself holding any resentment toward him. In fact, I may even have been enjoying myself quite a bit during the conversation. I could remember not too long ago when the opposite would have been far more applicable.

I held Oliver's stare as I got up and almost left, but not before adding, "Right I almost forgot, bring Andrea as well." With that I was off, completely forgetting to say goodbye to Alicia.

"Okay." He muttered, his cheeky demeanour now being a thing of the past.

I was heading back to my designated table with the hum of, "You're in good shape." trilling in my ear. I didn't get far however before Alicia came up beside me, looking alarmed. She pulled me to the side of the room where there were fewer students.

"Are you even aware of what just happened?" She asked me straight up.

My eyebrows met in the middle. "What did I do?" Alicia wore an expression that scared me and I began looking around the room hoping for a clue as to what I had done that was so bad.

"With Oliver!" She urged me. "It could be interpreted," She began, and I could tell she was trying to be delicate. "…As flirting." She finished.

My eyes widened in distress. "No way!" I defended. "That wasn't flirting." The words were an aid to convince myself, as well as Alicia.

"I'm sure you didn't intend it to." She assured me. "But it sure looked like it from where I was sitting." Her eyes pitied and she seemed to understand my own lack of understanding. "Knowing you I assumed you'd been clueless to the whole thing, but it's important you should know so that it doesn't happen again."

"Of course!" I said hastily. I suddenly felt ill. I thought of Andrea, whom I really liked. I didn't want to be a person who flirted with another's partner. I hadn't meant to I told myself, it hadn't been on purpose. I wanted to argue this to someone. I wanted to shout it out into the giant hall. "I hadn't meant to flirt!"

Instead I decided upon upholding a certain degree of cautiousness in conversations involving Oliver from now on.

"Why aren't you friends with the Hufflepuff boys?" Oliver asked, receiving a big collective sigh from the rest of us, except for the non-Hufflepuffs, which included Andrea who he was sitting next to on a couch in our common room, and Angelina, Alicia, Graham and his friends. We were a lot of people, struggling to fit.

"Why does everyone think we're not friends with them?" I burst. "We love Griffith, Griffith is a good egg. Even a great one at times." My teammates visibly agreed.

"Hey, Griffith!" PJ called for him to come over to us. Griffith was stood talking with some of his friends. At the mention of his name he made a big show of making his way over to us on an "air broom", a bit of a lame thing to do, yet everyone seemed fairly amused by it.

"We were just saying we think you're a good egg." I told him. "Even a great one, when you follow my diagrams."

Griffith let out a loud laugh. His laughs were always loud, so I probably shouldn't comment on it. From now on, just assume his laughs are loud and I'll let you know when he lets out a quiet laugh instead.

"So I'm never a great egg then, is what you're saying?" He said.

"It would appear so. But don't fret, if I you ever shall decide to actually do what I tell you to, then it will be my first priority to promote you." I smiled from my sitting position on the cramped couch.

"Alright, enough you two!" Angelina piped from the comfort of her own chair, putting an end to our banter. "Or Graham will get jealous." She teased, sending Graham a smug look and earning a few "oooh's" from the group.

I felt like burying my face in my hands, but instead I sat quietly, not wanting to say anything and not knowing what to say. When would the comments stop? I thought. What had happened at the party and the aftermath, had thankfully made Bianca stop her crusade, but it had also spurred everyone else to start their own.

But instead of me having to say anything. Oliver surprisingly joined the –in lack of a better word– conversation.

"They're just friends, honestly, when will you guys stop?" He asked, sitting now with his arm around Andrea and with a bitter expression. He appeared tired of his teammate's antics, and I felt relieved at least that it wasn't Alicia who had uttered the comment, with whom he had an even more strained relationship. "Boys and girls can be just friends, you guys know that right?"

Angelina kept her smug expression. "I know boys and girls can be friends, I'm just saying not in this case. I mean they even kissed!" She rationalized.

"It was a dare!" Oliver erupted. "You were there!"

"Exactly. I was there. I saw that it was more than just a kiss." Angelina looked at Graham and I while Oliver stayed quiet. She had remained calm throughout Oliver's flare-up, an admirable trait, which I held down to being about nothing short of years and years of practise.

"Guys, you have no business talking about their relationship. It's their private matter." Bianca said. I glanced at her approvingly in return and we shared a smile.

Griffith decided to join in on our game night. His presence was that of a guiding angel when we all couldn't decide what game was best suited for a company of many. As it turns out, not a lot of them are. To our salvation, Griffith knew the perfect thing. It was called Wizard's Fez. No one of us had neither played nor heard of a game called Wizard's Fez before tonight.

He began trying to explain the rules once he had got us all quiet, which took longer than it probably should have. We sat quietly listening to his gesticulation-rich explanation of the game. Once the explanation was over, we came back none the wiser.

"How about we jump straight into it, and you'll learn along the way?" He finally settled on.

There was an eruption of exhilaration and the game was game.

Everyone stood and split into pairs, as instructed by Griffith. I got with PJ and we were just about to decide on a code gesture when Graham grabbed hold of Oliver's and mine shoulders. "You think you can do this without swearing yourselves mortal enemies?" He joked.

"Maybe Will and Oliver should be on the same team for once, just to be sure?" Wright spoke.

After some debating —debating, which Oliver and I stayed out of— they decided that the risk of us fighting whilst on the same team was lower than if we would be on opposite teams. In turn, this meant that I would have to watch myself closely throughout the evening, making sure I didn't enter any risky situation with Oliver.

"Why do they need to be on the same team, again?" Asked Andrea confused.

"Because they bicker like an old—" Graham trailed of, seemingly having realised a mistake and there was an awkward pause before the game finally broke out.

"Do you think we'll make it through this night without arguing?" Oliver asked me humorously.

"As long as you keep calling me by my name." I said, arms crossed and brows raised.

"And by name do you mean Penderghast or Willow?" He asked with an irritating smile.

I inwardly cringed at the mention of my obnoxiously prominent surname. I presented Oliver with a scowl, telling him not to open that Pandora's box again. He laughed at my facial expression, but we were interrupted when Griffith transfigured a cup into a fez and placed it on his head.

"I'm game leader. Now, as I told you before, it's partly a so called 'role-playing' game." He gave roles to every team. Oliver and my team were the Rotfang Conspiracy.

The more we played, the more I realised there weren't really any rules to this game and Griffith appeared to be making it up as we went along. But Merlin, did we have fun. And fun was also the fact that things were going really well for Oliver and I. Things were going so well that we were upgraded to second Wizard-Fez-officials, meaning we had the power to summon our own Aqua-Lung and could therefore pass seamlessly through Loch Lomond, allowing us to collect the first object from Chief Elfrida.

— Things were going our way, basically.

As it turned out, my quick thinking combined with Oliver's meticulous strategies and our combined athleticism meant that we worked pretty well together. Although when Bianca pointed this out, "You're a perfect match!" She had shouted gleefully, it didn't land very well, and things were a bit… unbalanced, for a good while after that.

Evening turned into night and everyone had forgot about curfew, or they didn't care. I had become significantly hungry, but I was in luck, because upon complaining about this, Griffith introduced what was called the Dance Elf Championship, and event that took place in the kitchens, to where we delightedly moved.

"Damn that delectable pumpkin juice!" I hollered after taking a sip of mine between throwing grapes into small goblets, the current task. We had just managed to earn the Pepperup Potion from Dilys Derwent, sending us way ahead of the others and we had shared a high five upon our success.

Oliver threw a grape into the last goblet that was situated on top some boxes we had put up. We both cheered loudly. Not as loud as Griffith laughs — but pretty loud. "Am I your favourite person yet?" He turned to me and asked.

With a smile playing around on my face I took a bite of one of the remaining grapes, "I don't do favourites. But for someone who usually guards a goal you sure know how to shoot."

"That's a yes, then!"

"That is not a yes!" I argued. "Besides, my favourite people usually at least know how to tie a tie." I tugged at his loosely hanging tie before heading back to our base, "The Ministry", which was really a small table with backwards standing chairs around it.

Griffith blew a whistle he had conjured about 20 minutes ago, calling for everyone's attention. "Alriiight guys; next segment." He took hold of a napkin and pulled out a Snitch from his pocket, holding it up for all of us to see. "It's time for a game of Snitch-nip!" Everyone audibly groaned, yet with smiles still adorning their faces. We all knew what this would be coming to. "I will be releasing this Golden Snitch into this room." He said dramatically once everyone had quieted. "Whoever catches it will earn a nimbus 2001 from Bowman Wright—"

Wright cheered, Bowman Wright was a distant relative of hers.

"…And can therefore fly over the forest of doom safely," he dragged two giant cauldrons to the middle of the floor with a space between them, "without encountering any centaurs." he placed a couple of apples on the floor in between the cauldrons. "This will give you a clear path to the wizard who holds the Diamond Fez, giving you 50 points!" He motioned at himself as he stood on the other side of the cauldrons in relation to the rest of us, looking proud.

"My question is: how the hinkypunks did you get hold of a Golden Snitch?" Bianca asked, giving a voice to everyone's question.

Griffith shrugged. "I am a chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, after all." He said ambiguously.

"I don't condone this!" I said as loud as I could. It was a dubious thing, the matter of the presumably stolen Snitch. Snitches were expensive, and taking one from the school wasn't the most ethical of choices. Still, in this moment I couldn't help but find it funny. Nevertheless, we dropped the matter pretty soon as everyone were eager to get on with the game.

Everything went rapidly downhill after that.

Quentin sure made it weird when he, instead of going after the Snitch, leapt for Griffith's head instead, in an attempt to grab his fez by force. We all had to take a moment to remind him that it was just a game, and Quentin seemed like he was waking up from a trance, unsure himself and what exactly he had just done.

On top of that, "The Muggle Liaison Office", or Wright and Bianca for short, didn't seem to have grasped the concept of team effort, mostly Bianca, who was currently sitting down, angrily yelling at Wright that the Snitch had been on her right, not above her.

But the point where I personally reached the bottom of the hill, when I simply wasn't having any fun anymore, was when Oliver leaned in to whisper in my ear. We had stopped in our tracks during all the commotion caused by everyone's hasty chase around the kitchen to catch the shimmering ball. He was telling me his plan to get us hold of the Snitch when I saw that someone else had stopped in their tracks as well as us.

Andrea caught my eye as Oliver was whispering intensely. I gave her a small smile and she smiled back, but it was faint. I realised she was feeling excluded, had been feeling excluded the entire night. More precisely, I realised that mere caution wasn't going to be a powerful enough force to not end up in these situations with Oliver.

I looked at Graham who was at the moment stood on a table, seconds away from jumping of it in an attempt to catch what was now hovering by the roof. With Graham it was different. It didn't matter if people thought him and I were more than friends. Sure, I wished they wouldn't think it, but the belief didn't have any potential of hurting anyone. Such a simple gesture as a whisper in the ear could be interpreted the wrong way, but if it did, no one would be stood seven yards away, smiling faintly.

From then on I stopped playing. Actually I still played, but only on the exterior. I made it look like I was playing, but it was solely an act. I wasn't really trying anymore. What I did try instead was to avoid Oliver as much as I could, which was a difficult feat to accomplish considering how we were on the same team. Every time he approached me, I could feel myself veer away and my eyes finding Andrea.

Our team didn't end up catching the snitch and Oliver was disappointed. I felt sort of bad that I had stopped trying. Alicia and Angelina were the ones who finally caught it, ending up on the other side of the forest of doom to collect the final object. They didn't end up winning though, Oliver and I did. Even with their 50 extra points Oliver and I still had collected more throughout the game. They did get to keep the snitch though, as an emblem of their endeavour.

The Rotfang Conspiracy didn't get any emblem. When it was announced we had won I didn't feel the excitement I had first felt at how well we were doing. I simply looked at Oliver and smiled one of those faint smiles that had scarred me. He seemed unsure of why my demeanour had changed so rapidly in the past 20 minutes, but he didn't ask. Instead he lingered on me, privately wondering. I didn't feel like indulging him despite having recognized his curiosity. I was tired and couldn't even imagine that we had only begun this endless game of Wizard's Fez a couple of hours earlier, which for the record turned out to not be a real game in the first place. At least it hadn't been a real game until now. How could anyone get the impression we didn't like the Hufflepuff boys when Griffith was among them?

The night was over, I realised. There was a collective feeling of anti-climax. Like the night had deserved a more grandiose ending, and not giving it would be disrespectful. But in lack of any ideas everyone sauntered off to their respective lairs, leaving all men behind.

Left was a tired Bianca, lying down on her bed without even brushing her teeth, an energetic Wright, seemingly able to go on for the rest of the night and more, and a curious PJ, wondering about the distraught Willow who currently had a lump in her stomach, thinking about nothing but Andrea.

I sat down on my four-poster, knowing that PJ was watching me meticulously. I pondered if I should bring my feelings to light. If I did bring my feelings to light, how would I phrase myself? I didn't like talking to my friends about my feelings. It just wasn't the type of thing I felt comfortable doing, and it was not the type of relationship I wanted us to have. I wanted us to have fun, solely. But sometimes it was necessary. Not talking to one's friends meant not talking to anyone. That was the thing about living at Hogwarts — there was no parent to talk to, only one's so called 'second family'.

"Do you guys…" I said, or more like croaked. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Did you guys…" I had everyone's attention by now. "You didn't think I made Andrea feel excluded?" Damn this was hard saying. "…Do you?" My voice was pretty meek toward the end of the sentence.

"Yes." PJ answered honestly. "I think you did." She smiled a sorrowful smile. "But I don't think it was solely your fault." She continued. PJ got up and sat down on the bed next to me. The only sounds came from the rain on the window that had since yesterday replaced the previous snowy weather and the rasping wheeze of Wright's toothbrush against her teeth as she stood watching the scene.

"It was mostly Oliver's fault." PJ declared decisively. "He has this way of never realising what he's doing." she said bitterly. "And I think that if he had realised, he would have… modified his behaviour slightly."

"I don't know PJ, he seemed pretty content whispering tenderly into Willow's ear time after time." Bianca twirled around on her bed and smiled smugly, to PJ's discontent.

PJ gave Bianca a disapproving look. "You're not exactly helping."

"You have to admit he does seem a little… smitten with Willow here." Bianca contended and Wright suddenly felt the need to flee away to the bathroom with her toothbrush still in her mouth.

"He has a girlfriend, Bianca." PJ said firmly to Bianca, but she chose to ignore it.

I sat plucking at the hairs on my legs, not wanting to look any of them in the eye. "I don't feel like a Hufflepuff right now." I said, sounding childish. But they were my true feelings. Our houses mattered to us, and I knew I wasn't alone in it. We did everything to make sure our sorting was warranted, and that everyone around us experienced us accordingly. It was about wanting that feeling of inclusion.

"Heey! Willow." PJ stopped me. "You didn't mean to make her feel… excluded." She put a hand on my shoulder and I still didn't look up from my legs. "You and Oliver were just… having fun, and that's okay. You're allowed to have fun."

"Don't worry Willow." Bianca piped feebly but sympathetically from her bed.

But no matter what PJ or Bianca told me, I had seen Andrea's look. If she was going to keep giving me those looks whenever Oliver and I had fun, then fun just wasn't fun anymore. I promised myself instead that I would leave them alone for the most part, since I found it was the only thought I could do right now that didn't make my stomach sting.

At least now my friends seemed to believe Oliver and I were friends, my only worry was of them thinking that the scale tipped a little too heavily in that direction.

26 October 2018

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