Chapter 4
Inside the cabin Pansy Parkinson sat leering at Allegra from the right middle seat, Draco was by the window on the left and didn't look round when Allegra entered. The two seats near the door were filled by Draco and Blaise's owls and Pansy's white cat in its basket. Blaise put Midnight next to the other owls and they all ruffled their feathers. Allegra quickly jumped into the seat next to Draco, the idea of spending the next four hours sat next to Pansy made her feel physically sick.
"Such a beautiful smile, Pansy," Allegra commented on her sneer, "it's good to see you too." Pansy scoffed and looked down at an issue of Witch Weekly in her lap. Blaise lingered for a moment and then sat down next to her. Draco finally turned to greet Allegra with a vague smile.
"She was sat by herself," Blaise told him, "now you're paying for my lunch."
Draco rolled his eyes and looked at Allegra, "what were you doing on your own?"
"I had a fight with Pavarti and Lavender."
"You knew about this," Draco said, turning back to Blaise, "you hustled me." Blaise shrugged. "What did you fight about?"
"Girl stuff," Allegra said dismissively, watching as Pansy slid herself closer to Blaise and he became trapped between her and the wall.
About an hour later Pansy went to buy her lunch, leaving the remaining three in the cabin.
"Are you missing her already, Blaise?" Allegra teased.
"This is all your fault."
"No it's not!" She laughed, "Draco asked me how to get rid of her."
"It's not mine!"
"It's definitely yours, Allegra. You pointed it out to him in the first place. He was blissfully ignorant before."
"Well, it's your problem now," Allegra looked back down at her book.
Draco smiled.
"Stop looking so smug, Malfoy," Blaise narrowed his eyes, "once Pansy actually listens to me and knows I don't fancy her she'll be back on you quicker than Allegra -"
"Careful," Allegra warned.
"- gets on her broom."
Allegra turned to Draco, "if that happens, I think it's time to go for the brick from the ankle."
Draco nodded, "you can be my accomplice."
"With pleasure," Allegra grinned.
Pansy threw the door open, "Blaise look, they had his and hers cookies!"
Allegra had said goodbye to the Slytherins on the train so she wouldn't be seen with them on the platform. She didn't want to do anymore harm to her friendship with her roommates.
"Cassia!" Allegra waved, hurrying to meet the house-elf. Cassia stood sheepishly at the back of the platform, not in rags, but in Allegra's old t-shirt and skirt and clutching a small straw hat in her hands and fiddling with it nervously. Cassia had been given her freedom after Allegra's mother's death as she had been her true master and they no longer had the original family house. She had always been treated well and had stayed on to help look after Allegra and their house. After an initial greeting, Cassia held out her hand. Allegra held it and with a loud crack, they apparated.
They appeared on the long drive way to the house. They lived in the country but the house was mostly white. It prevented itself sticking out like a sore thumb by having a half-mile drive and lots of shrubbery that helped it hide from prying eyes. The back garden and land was well hidden from roads and no footpaths crossed the farmland behind the property. They could even play quidditch without any kind of a glamour when the farmer wasn't in the fields.
They walked to the house and onto the marble porch. Allegra opened the door and let Cassia hurry inside before her. In the entrance hall everything was spotless, the off-white marble floor looked brand new and all the side tables gleamed. Allegra put her bags down and opened the door on Midnight's cage. The black owl swooped out and around the hall, stopping to perch at the top of the stairs that curved in a horseshoe to a platform that connected to the upstairs hall. Cassia walked to the kitchen the moment they were through the door, so Allegra followed her down the right arm of the house, passing the dining room doors and the door to her father's office; the one room Cassia wasn't allowed to clean in case she ruined his organised mess.
Cassia loved to clean, but with only one or two people in the house at a time there wasn't usually much to do. Allegra and her father were not tidy people, so when they were home Cassia would come to life, bustling to clean and prepare meals. Cassia had her own room right next to the kitchen, inside it was like a studio apartment without a kitchen and she had filled it with bright and shiny objects that all had their own place and according to Cassia, always needed dusting.
In the kitchen Cassia was preparing a plate of snacks to tide Allegra over until dinner was ready, which Cassia immediately started preparing although Allegra wouldn't be eating for another two hours or so. Allegra chatted to her about school and Cassia gave her an update on her life and Allegra's fathers.
Allegra went upstairs to her room to put her things away and found an owl tapping on the balcony door window. Midnight was on her perch eating whatever it was that Cassia had put in her bowl (Allegra didn't like to look too closely) and ignoring the little owl at the door. Allegra got a few treats from her desk and opened the door. The owl fluttered in front of her, impatient. Allegra took the letter from it and put a few treats in front of it. The owl jumped with excitement and set about eating. Allegra closed the door and sat down at her desk to read the letter.
Dear Allegra,
This is a letter from us (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) here!
We hope you were ok at school without us. Arthur's recovery is going well and he'll be home before Christmas. We will send our presents over on Christmas Eve and you can send yours back with the owls. We hope you have a good time at home with your dad and that the mystery visitor is a welcome one! We love you x
Padfoot: Hope you are well. I'm sorry you aren't here to have Christmas with us but I'm sure you and your dad will have fun together at home. Send him my best Christmas wishes. Hopefully you can come again in the summer. Hermione is organising for all of us to send you our presents on Christmas Eve, so prepare for a lot of owls! I'm afraid my present may be crummy, but due to not being able to leave the house it was difficult to go shopping and now Molly has me on constant watch. I hope you have a lovely Christmas, love Padfoot x
Soon dinner was ready and Cassia and Allegra sat down to eat in front of the TV (which would work as long as Cassia didn't get too close).
The next day Allegra decided to go to the local city to do her Christmas shopping. The best part of shopping with muggles was that she got to use her dad's credit card. It was so much easier than carrying around lots of cash, she wished wizards had them too. It had taken almost all day to go through the shops and pop into the wizard area of the city where she had bought some magic wrapping paper with dancing snowmen.
She bought Tonks some muggle chick-flicks she had wanted for the TV Arthur had given her for her birthday. For Sirius, 200 of the best muggle sweets. Fred, a big joke book that he had been talking about but had said it was too expensive to ask his parents for. George was getting '1001 of the Best Pranks'. For Harry she'd bought a quidditch book, a care-for-your-Firebolt set and a couple of signed posters of quidditch players her dad always brought back after competing abroad. Hermione had been hinting at a number of books since October, so Allegra had found those. For Ron t-shirts and jumpers, which would hopefully save him from the famous Weasley jumper situation. Ginny was getting a new diary, matching stationary and some perfume. Muggle chocolates for Arthur and Molly, and Charlie was getting a few quidditch bits. Allegra's dad only wanted cologne and he had told her he'd got Blaise and Oliver's presents sorted, but while shopping for Ron she'd seen a jacket that was perfect for Blaise and gotten a little carried away. If she decided that professional quidditch wasn't for her after all, and she couldn't become an auror, she'd try styling men for a living; there would be a lot of perks to that.
When she returned there was a letter for her on the round table in the middle of the entrance hall.
"What's this?" she asked Cassia, who had just appeared.
"It came with the muggle post," she said walking past and disappearing into the opposite end of the house. Allegra studied the letter, there were strange stamps all over it and the actual stamps had pictures on them. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. I know who this is from. Allegra went to the living room and sat down on the couch, tearing the envelope open.
Hey Ali!
I've been hearing a lot about you lately! I'm sorry we've not talked in months and I promise we'll see each other soon. How are you? I am well as always, I hope your holidays are not too boring while your dad's on the continent with the team, but I'm going to one of the matches to meet him. I'm staying here for Christmas.
A few weeks ago I received a letter from he-who-shall-not-be-named (other than You-Know-Who) telling me to stop writing to you and that I'm corrupting your mind. Apparently you're following in my footsteps. I'd argue that you're following in your dad's, but you know Percy. Anyway, I wrote a rude and sarcastic letter back and told him repeatedly that just because I was your favourite Weasley he didn't need to be jealous. He hasn't replied - yet.
Yours Always, Charlie x
Allegra grinned, Charlie was twenty-two now and they were still pretty close, despite not having seen each other in over a year.
The next day Cassia spent the day decorating the house while Allegra waited for the guest to arrive and went flying outside for an hour. She was finally feeling back to normal after her 'accident'. She came back inside frozen but happy, and decided to sit in the den by the fire.
"Um, Allegra?" Cassia said, pushing the door open. Allegra turned to look at her, and stood behind her was her guest grinning from his crutches.
"Oliver!" Allegra jumped up and went to give him a hug, "what are you doing here? What happened to you?"
"Bad fall and fractured a few vertebrae and ribs, vertebrae take a lot longer to heal even with all the different potions they've given me. It will be a month before I'm back on the field."
"So basically, dad's sent you here so I can take care of you."
"I think so," Oliver nodded, "he doesn't trust me to not do something stupid."
"I'm probably not the best person to stop you doing something stupid."
Oliver shrugged, "well come on, you need to go and get ready."
Allegra frowned, "for what?"
"We're going out to a muggle restaurant," he stated. "You've got half an hour, go get ready."
Cassia came to help Allegra get ready. Since Allegra was still too young to do magic outside of school Cassia could do her hair with magic so that she had enough time to be clean and ready. She showered and then Cassia did her hair. She dressed and met Oliver in the hall and they apparated to just outside the town and walked (Oliver mostly hobbled) to the restaurant.
"So, have you got your eye on anyone at school?" Oliver asked over a mouthful of pasta.
"No."
Oliver snorted, "that sounds absolute."
"It is. I'm not interested in anyone."
"That's ... unusual, for you."
Allegra shrugged, "perhaps it's not surprising, after five years with the same people."
"Maybe. Although that wasn't how it was with my year."
"What about you," Allegra wanted to shift the focus away from her love life, "are you seeing anyone?"
"Not recently," Oliver looked down at his food. "I just don't have the time, we're traveling so much."
"Mhmm," Allegra agreed, "well there's no rush. You're only nineteen and your quidditch career needs your full attention."
"I wish everyone agreed with me like that, my non-quidditch friends have all hooked up. Living together, engaged."
"Well I am my father's daughter."
"True," Oliver smiled. "You'll be joining me on the team in a couple of years."
"I hope so," she breathed.
"Allegra, you're good enough," he looked at her sincerely. "Don't doubt yourself. You're the best Chaser I've seen off the professional pitch. If you were like me and got on straight from school you could retire at twenty-two and still have had a fulfilled quidditch career, and then do something else, if that's what's bothering you."
Allegra flushed, "I don't know. Quidditch is addictive."
"I know," Oliver grinned.
The next morning Allegra skipped down the hallway to Oliver's room and knocked on the door. There was no reply, so Allegra let herself in. His clothes from the night before were on the floor and he was still in bed. Allegra noticed that the duvet was loose of the bed and so grabbed the corner and pulled the duvet from him. Oliver woke with a start, crawling up the bed and grimaced.
"Whoa, Oliver! When did you get like that?" Leaning up against the headboard his stomach muscles bulged.
"When did you become determined to see me naked?" he rubbed his back and adjusted his boxer shorts to cover up more of his legs.
"When I was twelve."
Oliver rolled his eyes, "I don't doubt that. Can you pass me my crutches, I think you've broken my back." Allegra rushed to get him his crutches and left to let him get dressed without a spectator. Downstairs Cassia was making pancakes for breakfast.
"There's a letter for you," she nodded towards the breakfast bar.
Dear Allegra, how are you? We went Christmas shopping and I got your Christmas present. I have to say I'm pretty proud of it. What have you been up to? Who is your babysitter? Your dad's mum's sister's boyfriend's son's twice removed cousin's brother's daughter?
Write back, Fred
Allegra quickly wrote a reply in her dad's office while she waited for Oliver to find his way down.
Hey Fred, I'm great, yourself? It's Oliver! He arrived yesterday. He's broken vertebrae in his lower back and they take a long time to heal so I think dad's politely suggesting I play nurse (I'm not doing well so far). We went out to a muggle restaurant last night, those muggles do well with their static Christmas decorations, the place looked amazing.
Love Allegra
Allegra went up to her room and gave Midnight the letter. On her way back to the kitchen she found Oliver struggling to get down the stairs. Allegra helped him down as best she could, now feeling guilty for giving him a shock half an hour earlier.
That evening Allegra went back to her room and found a letter that Midnight had dropped on her desk.
Hey Allegra, I'm alright, thanks. Things are fine but I'm getting cabin fever. So Oliver Wood? England Captain, I suppose that's better than a distant relative. What is he, like five years older than you? It's a bit weird that you guys are there alone.
Fred
"You alright, Ali?" Oliver pushed the door open with his crutch and hobbled inside.
"Yep, fine." Allegra snatched up the letter and scrunched it into a ball, "are you?"
"Yeah, do you want to watch that film now, what did you say it was called? Finding Pebo?"
"Nemo."
"Yeah, Finding Nemo."
"Sure, just give me a minute to get changed," Oliver turned and hobbled his way out. It would probably take longer for him to get down to the living room than for Allegra to get changed. Allegra threw Fred's jealous letter across the room where it bounced off the opposite wall and burst into flames. In seconds it was a pile of ash.
"What was ..?" Allegra said out loud. That was odd. After a few moments she shrugged it off, Fred and George had all kinds of strange stuff and Cassia was always bewitching things.
After watching Finding Nemo they ate dinner with Cassia. Oliver's back was causing him a lot of pain despite taking all of his prescribed medication so he agreed to watch a film in his room where he could lie on his bed and his back could get some real rest.
"You said I'd like this film because it's manly," he turned his head to look at Allegra, "it's just a film for eye-candy for you, isn't it?"
Allegra shrugged, "it's half and half. Ow!" Oliver had pinched her.
"I'm crippled, you can't get me back."
"I could," she countered, "I just don't dislike you enough."
Over the time that Oliver stayed, they did all different things that didn't require much mobility from Oliver, such as the muggle cinema and flying lessons where he shouted from the floor. On the 14th Oliver's back finally felt good enough to start moving around without fully relying on his crutches.
"Swimming is really good for injuries," Allegra said.
"I feel like this is just a ploy to get me topless again rather than a recommended therapy," Oliver eyed her suspiciously, "it is isn't it?"
"It is more of a coincidence that swimming is really good for you than it is a coincidence that men are generally topless whilst doing so."
"I thought so."
Allegra was pleased to see him getting in the pool regardless of the reasons. She had a sneaking suspicion that he enjoyed the attention. That evening they had another movie night to rest Oliver's back. Allegra pushed the two spare square parts of the sofa and slotted them into the corner so that the sofa was about the size of a double and single bed pushed together so that Oliver could lie down. They had chosen three films and settled down to watch them. By the end of the first Allegra had fallen asleep. She had begun sitting up next to Oliver but had slipped down to lie next to him and as time passed her energy had disappeared.
The 15th came and Oliver, Cassia and Allegra prepared for her father's arrival that evening. Cassia was in the kitchen making finger-food for a miniature Christmas party when Allegra and Oliver entered for lunch.
"Just take what you want from what I've made already," Cassia nodded to the opposite side of the kitchen. Oliver and Allegra took what they wanted and went to the living room.
"Do you want a beer?" Allegra suggested as Oliver carefully lowered himself into the corner of the sofa.
"Yeah, alright." Allegra went back to the kitchen and got a six pack of his favourite beer and two cans of cider for herself.
"That's not a beer," Oliver said as she set her haul down next to him.
"Well observed."
Oliver sighed and opened a can, "you're going to get me drunk this evening, aren't you?"
"Would the Boones have it any other way?"
"No, I guess not. Your dad wants me to be completely sober ninety-nine percent of the time, and out of my face for the other one percent."
"And today I intend to continue that tradition."
"But do we have to start at lunch time? Once your dad gets home he'll start handing me hard stuff."
"You're such a drama queen," Allegra rolled her eyes, "just because I brought them in doesn't mean you have to consume them."
Oliver pursed his lips, "I suppose."
"Allegra!"
"Dad!" Allegra jumped up from her seat and started running to the hall, but she had forgotten about her socks and slipped on the marble and landed skidding to her father's feet on her butt.
"So you can ride a broom standing up with your eyes closed but you can't make it across the hall?" Her dad shook his head. Oliver walked to meet them and Cassia came hurrying in from the kitchen.
"Oliver, you're crutch-less."
"I am indeed."
"Has Ali been doing a good job as a nurse?"
Allegra looked at Oliver.
"More or less." Apart from the time she jumped on him because she'd forgotten he was broken, she had done a fairly good job. Mostly reminding him to take his medicine and keeping him entertained without movement.
"Right then," Allegra's dad, Michael, clapped his hands together enthusiastically, "shall we have a mini Christmas?"
"I've made a buffet," Cassia smiled.
"Fantastic!" Michael boomed, "well done, Cassia!" Cassia skipped in the air went back to the kitchen.
"I'll get the living room ready," Allegra said, "wait 'til you see the tree, Cassia's really outdone herself this year."
"Great," Michael grinned, "Oliver, you're going to be in no fit state to go home tonight."
"As expected," Oliver smiled somewhat half-heartedly, "Ali's already started me on the beer."
Allegra's father was an excitable man. He liked everyone and was only serious if the time called for it. Allegra assumed it was a vital part of motivating and coaching quidditch players, but he never seemed to stop. He wasn't like Angelina who bit your head off if you did something wrong. Michael could be very scary when he needed, but he found a light and fun atmosphere brought the best out in players.
A couple of hours later and Michael had achieved his goal in getting everyone merry, including Cassia. For three people and an elf they managed to have a pretty good time; eating, drinking, chatting and flicking through the TV channels. Some of the entertainment muggles liked was very odd. Eventually Michael fell asleep on one of the smaller couches and started snoring loudly. Cassia had fallen asleep on the carpet in front of him shortly after, her belly and cheek to the floor. She was going to be stiff when she woke up.
"Shall we go up now?" Allegra pointed dizzily above her. Oliver nodded and pulled Allegra up.
"My back doesn't hurt anymore."
"Yes it does," Allegra giggled, "you're just too drunk to feel it."
They walked stumbling, pushing, pulling and laughing up the stairs until they reached Allegra's room. Allegra stumbled into the wall, pulling Oliver with her. They both laughed as Allegra noticed how close he was. Silence fell and the mumbling from the TV below became loud. Oliver leaned in and kissed her. Allegra rested her hands on his stomach and she breathed in deeply as his lips pressed against hers.
"Woah," Allegra said when they parted, and then giggled, "woops."
"Yeah, woops," Oliver breathed, smiling at her.
"Good night, Ollie," Allegra smiled and opened the door.
"Good night, Ali."